What Word Has Been Added to The Cambridge Dictionary in 2025-‘Skibidi’?

Having teenage grandchildren is an education. Not necessarily an education that I expected nor that I desired. I did teach middle school so I expect some of the odd and ridiculous, I must say.

I just couldn’t imagine that a modern mainstream dictionary would add the word ‘skibidi’ that my 14-year-old grandson used consistently, albeit in different contexts. His seven-year-old brother mimicked him.  Now he says is surprised the skibidi is going to be permanently enshrined in a dictionary.  He says the expressions come and go quickly.  Of course, they do.  He is fourteen.

Whenever I asked the 14-year-old what ‘skibidi’ then means, he said anything I want it to mean.

Very confusing to this grandmother.

So what has been added to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2025?

It is even hard for me to say it. ‘Skibidi’!

Why? In The Guardian online, by Matthew Weaver, August 17, 2025, the heading is ‘Skibidi’, ‘Delulu’, and ‘Tradwife’, among words added to the Cambridge Dictionary. Lexicographers give nod to TikTok’s generation enduring influence on English language with latest editions.” 

At least, now I learned a new word, lexicographer. A lexicographer is a person who writes and edits dictionary, entries, compiles dictionaries. They monitor the English language and review its development to create updates. That includes used words or phrases from various platforms, such as social media, studying the usage of the word to determine if it should be an official addition to a dictionary.

This is a career I never knew about, a career that can offer a unique way to work with words, to pursue a career in publishing. You need a bachelors’ degree in English or linguistics, or a communications degree, with editing, and copywriting. Some employers prefer someone with a postgraduate degree to confirm their research ability. In 2025, a lexicographer’s salary in the United States typically ranges from $66,000-$120,000, with an average around $88,000 plus bonuses and benefits.

I cannot imagine that I will use either word ‘skibidi or ‘lexicographers’ in my general discussion.

Cambridge Dictionary Lexical program manager, Colin McIntosh, quoted in the article, said that the Cambridge Dictionary only adds words they think will have power. He said, “Internet culture is changing the English language, and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary. “

The Oxford English Dictionary gives you the meaning of the word as well as its origin, while the Cambridge Dictionary gives a more practical explanation along with an example of how to use the word in a sentence.

“The Cambridge Dictionary defines skibidi as “ a word that can have different meanings, such as ‘cool’, ‘bad’, or can be used with no real meaning as a joke, an example of its use is: “what the skibidi are you doing?”

I finally know more about ‘skibidi’ than my grandson. I understand why I didn’t understand his definition, as it can be anything or nothing.  He was defining it properly, according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

What is more difficult for this Boomer to accept is that it became popular thanks to skibidi toilet, a viral animated video that began on YouTube showing human heads protruding from toilets!

Toilet jokes have always been popular with 14-year-olds. I just never thought that a toilet joke would become part of the Cambridge Dictionary.

The article states that “people older than generation alpha tend to greet the use of the word with despair.“

Now I have to look up generation alpha, which means those born beginning in the 2010s to the 2020s. Generation alpha is the first to be born entirely in the 21st century. The majority of generation alpha are children of millennials.

‘Tradwife’ refers to “socially conservative influencers who celebrate looking after their husbands, children, and homes,” someone who posts on social media. ‘Delulu,’ an abbreviation of delusional, defined as “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to,” has been around for 10 years!

‘Delulu’ is certainly apropos (a word that newer generations do not even use nor know the meaning of) to 14-year-olds, which I just learned is generation Z, specifically the younger end of that generation, born 1997 to 2012, children of generation X. This is getting too complicated.

Despair! I have much more important things to despair than a word added into a dictionary. ‘Confounded’ is more like it.  Look up ‘confounded’ in the Cambridge Dictionary.

Here is something for a Boomer grandparent (and even great-grandparent) to do! Start using ‘skibidi’ in once or twice peppered into your every day conversation with your preteen and teenage grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Okay, parents too! See the reaction.  Prove the skeptics are wrong with

Joy,

Mema