Looking back on 2025 as the year winds up, we saw Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang evolving fast, often shaped by popular social media platforms, gaming, and meme culture. Words like ‘6-7’ and ‘aura farming’ and ‘mogging’ dominate conversations both online and offline . After speaking with Gen Z Bengalureans and diving into their vocabulary, here are some of these popular terms we found, undoubtedly reflecting humour, self-awareness, and how online life shapes everyday language.
6-7
Meaning: A nonsensical phrase that may sometimes mean ‘so-so’ but lacks concrete definition. Usually accompanied by a gesture - moving both palms up and down.
Example: The meaning of 6-7 is fluid depending on context.
Aura Farming
Meaning: Doing something to make oneself seem cool or impressive.
Example: She was just aura farming with her speech, she didn’t really mean it.
Dropping Lore
Meaning: Revealing unexpected or defining experiences from one’s past.
Example: He dropped some really crazy lore on our first date.
Lowkenuinely
Meaning: A combination of ‘lowkey’ and ‘genuinely’, used to describe a mix of both emotions.
Example: I lowkenuinely feel I could’ve done better on the test.
Mogging
Meaning: Looking better than others, usually in looks or style.
Example: That new haircut/outfit is totally mogging everyone.
Main Character Energy
Meaning: Behaviour or ‘vibe’ associated with the protagonist of a story.
Can be used as a compliment (charisma, confidence, style) or insult (self-absorbed).
Example: That girl’s dress is so pretty, she is giving main character energy.
Cooked
Meaning: Defeated, embarrassed, or destroyed in a competition or game.
Example: He got cooked at the match.
Skibidi
Meaning: Gibberish word that can mean ‘cool’ or ‘bad’.
Example: That DJ’s set was so skibidi.
Slop
Meaning: A word that mocks AI-generated content produced in large quantities, flooding social media platforms as low quality.
Example: That video is so bad, it looks like slop.
Caught in 4k
Meaning: Caught red-handed, usually doing something wrong or embarrassing.
Example: I got caught in 4k cheating on an exam.