2023 was another remarkable year of slang, filled with social media trends, pop culture references, and streamer-fueled terms. It also included slang from our 2022 list exploding into the greater public's lexicon (and [spoiler alert] claiming our top spot this year). To help you sort through the madness, we compiled a list of the top 10 slang terms from 2023:

10. GOATed

GOATed is similar to the popular GOAT acronym, but people use it as a verb to declare when something is the best. For example, "One of the many reasons this movie is goated is because it came out on my birthday." While the term has existed since the 2010s, it surged in popularity in 2022 and into 2023, partially due to Twitter copypasta (also see GOATed with the sauce).

9. Looksmaxxing

Looksmaxxing is when you attempt to improve your physical appearance, whether a subtle change, like getting a haircut, or something more intense, like plastic surgery. It gained prominence online in 2023, especially within the incel community, where men shared ways in which they have improved their outward appearance (sometimes in a competitive way). As you might have guessed, people also ironically use looksmaxxing to make fun of the trend.

8. Sheesh

While sheesh has been around since the early 20th century, it gained new life in 2021 as a trend on TikTok to react to impressive accomplishments. It has since grown in the social media zeitgeist to respond to good or bad things that leave you in disbelief. For example, your friend rocks a diamond-studded necklace, "Sheesh!" Or, your favorite team loses a game heartbreakingly, "Sheesh!"

7. Delulu

Delulu is a playful shortening of "delusional" that people may use jokingly or seriously when describing a person's unrealistic beliefs or mindset. It's unclear who coined the term, but delulu's origins trace back to superfans of K-pop in 2022. It has since branched into others' vocabulary, meaning roughly the same thing as cray. For example, you may call your sister "delulu" if she plans to sneak out to a party after curfew. Or, you might say you are delulu for your crush.

6. Canon event

Canon event is one of several terms that emerged from influential movies this summer (others included Barbenheimer, kenergy, and kenough). The term comes from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and refers to an experience in a person's life that has significantly changed them in some way (e.g., losing a loved one or an epic middle school cringe moment). After seeing the movie, social media users, especially TikTokers, propelled the term to go viral as they shared relatable canon events from their lives.

5. Let him cook

Rapper Brandon "Lil B" McCartney - aka The BasedGod - coined the phrase "let that boy cook" in July 2010, which eventually led to the rise of "let him cook" in 2023. If you've perused social media this year, you likely have seen this phrase in a meme or two when someone urges others not to interfere with a user if they are doing something entertaining. For example, if an X user is unwittingly ranting at the wrong user (with a slightly different name spelling), another user may post a "Let him cook" meme to tell others not to point out their error.

4. Swiftie

Taylor Swift was everywhere in 2023: Her concerts ("The Eras Tour," which also helped popularize the eras trend) broke records (even spawning a theatrically-released movie), her romance with football player Travis Kelce overshadowed the NFL, and Time Magazine named her "Person of the Year." Needless to say, her devoted fans (swifties) loved every second of it, from posting their concert experiences online to arguing whether or not Kelce was the right guy for the musical icon.

3. Girl dinner/boy dinner and girl math/boy math

There is nothing like a classic battle between the sexes to get everyone all riled up. This year, social media users, especially TikTokers, loved roasting one another on the differences between stereotypical males and females in how they eat and make financial decisions. For example, a girl dinner may be a neatly laid-out charcuterie board, while a boy dinner may consist of a bag of pizza rolls. Or, girl math is buying concert tickets so long ago, they are "basically free," while boy math is a guy saying he's 6 feet tall when he's actually 5 feet 9 inches.

2. Gyat

Gyat (or gyatt) is an expression of strong surprise (good or bad) that comes from streamers Dosllee and YourRAGE as a varied pronunciation of "god." It gained popularity in 2021 and 2022 amongst gamers, before spreading to social sites, such as X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, where Gen Zers and Alphas largely adopted the expression and use it EVERYWHERE. Gyat even was part of a bizarre viral song, "Sticking out your gyat for the rizzler."

1. Rizz

Since YouTube and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat popularized rizz in 2021, it ascended in 2022 (claiming the #6 spot on our Top Ten list last year) and exploded in 2023, becoming the Oxford Word of the Year. The term is short for "charisma" and refers to people's natural ability to flirt and charm objects of affection. It also led to the popular unspoken rizz term, which describes a person's ability to charm without uttering a word. Making its way to the #1 spot on our list and in our hearts, you might say that "rizz" has a lot of rizz. ;)

Do you see any jaw-dropping omissions on our top ten list? If so, let us know what we missed!