Brat, delulu and raw-dogging make Collins dictionary 2024 - can you decode this Gen Z slang?

Collins Dictionary has officially declared the word 'brat' as the word of the year. Many phrases popularised by social media are now popping up in the dictionary, but how fluent are you in Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang?

You've probably seen the word Brat plastered all over social media, and now it's been named as Collin's word of 2024 - but it's not the only Gen Z word to make it into the dictionary this year.

A 'Brat', according to pop singer Charli XCX is someone with a "confident, independent and hedonistic attitude", and the word has been popularised from Charli's summer album titled Brat. A typical Brat, as explained by the 32-year-old star, is "just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it."

Think 90s nostalgia with the words of the moment being trashy, club-rat, skimpy, messy and unpretentious. While it started as an album name, it then turned into a lifestyle, with people adopting the Brat way of life - even Kamala Harris used it as part of her US Presidential campaign. Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, also jumped on the bandwagon when he claimed that London's ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) scheme is 'brat' in a social media post.

Now Collins has declared it the word of the year, but how fluent in Gen Z are you?

Words that enter the Collins dictionary are decided by lexicographers who scour social media to see which notable words are worthy of an entry. Another addition was 'Era' which was inspired by Taylor Swift's era's tour and was defined as "a period of one's life or career that is of a distinctive character".

'Yapping' is another that made the list, which is when someone talks at length about irrelevant topics as well as 'Delulu' meaning being unrealistic with expectations - a shortened take on delusional.

These words have all mostly been popularised from Gen Z, as well as Generation Alpha, who are only 10 or 11 years old. These words have all come from social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat.

"Rawdogging" has also been featured, which has come from the TikTok trend of people posting videos of themselves on long-haul flights simply sitting staring at the seat in front of them for the duration of the flight.

Alex Beecroft, the managing director of Collins said: "With many of this year's notable words being popularised by generations Z and Alpha, we can confidently say this is the most 'brat' Word of the Year list ever," as reported by The Telegraph. The lexicographers at Collins Dictionary monitor their 20-billion-word database to create the annual list of new and notable words.

Last year, the word artificial intelligence (AI) was crowned as word of the year by Collins Dictionary, and others shortlisted included nepo baby, Bazball, debanking and Ulez.

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