The 10 Most-Searched Slang Terms in 2024

Now you’ll finally understand what younger generations are talking about when they say ‘very demure.’

By CaLea Johnson |
Be honest—how many words did you already know?
Be honest—how many words did you already know? / MoMo Productions/GettyImages

Language is constantly evolving in our fast-paced, digital world. In 2023 alone, Merriam-Webster added 690 words to the dictionary. Keeping up with new terminology can be difficult, especially when you add slang to the equation. Here are the slang terms people in the U.S. are Googling the most.

Unscrambler used Google Trends to compile this list of the most-searched slang for 2024. The company analyzed data for trending terms coupled with the word “meaning” to see which ones drove the most queries. Unscrambler then relied on Ahrefs, a search engine optimization tool, to determine what other search variations and keyword combinations people would look up to learn a term’s definition (e.g., “demure slang,” “what does demure mean,” “demure trend,” etc.). A total of 150 search variations were included in this research. The data comes from January 1, 2024, to October 25, 2024.

If you’ve been wracking your brain over the meaning of demure in 2024, you’re not alone. It’s the most-searched slang term in the U.S. The recent surge in popularity comes from TikToker Jools LeBron, who went viral after telling her audience how she presents herself at her job. She describes her look as “very demure,” meaning modest, cute, and not over the top.

You might know the term sigma as a letter of the Greek alphabet, but it’s taken on new meaning in certain online spheres. As math teacher Philip Lindsay puts it on TikTok, sigma refers to a tier in a “hierarchy for males.” He goes on to say, “They have the alpha, which is the most successful [and] the best looking, and then they have sigma, which is the same thing as an alpha but humbler.” (”They” in this case largely refers to preteen and teen boys.)

The third term on the list, skibidi, comes from the 77-episode web series, Skibidi Toilet, created by Alexey Gerasimov (DaFuq!?Boom! on YouTube). The show features singing human-headed toilets trying to rule the world, and it’s gained billions of views since its release in 2023. Young people usually call something suspicious or shady skibidi, but its meaning can vary. 

You can find the rest of the slang terms below, along with their number of Google searches in 2024.

The 10 Most-Searched Slang Terms in 2024

  1. Demure // 260,000
  2. Sigma // 220,000
  3. Skibidi // 205,000
  4. Hawk tuah // 180,000
  5. Sobriquet // 105,000
  6. Schmaltz // 65,000
  7. Sen // 50,000
  8. Katz // 34,000
  9. Oeuvre // 25,000
  10. Preen // 20,000

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