Internet is a skibidi toilet — loud, messy and strangely addictive. Every week it spits out new words, memes and jokes, and now even the Cambridge Dictionary has decided it’s safer to jump in than be left behind. The latest update includes “skibidi”, “tradwife” and more than 6,000 other internet-born words.
If “tradwife” (a traditional wife who cooks, cleans and posts about it online) sounds like old-fashioned life with a TikTok filter, then “broligarchy” feels bang on for our times. It mixes “bro” with “oligarchy” to describe the super-rich tech bros — think Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg — who run companies, launch rockets and try their hand at politics too.
“Skibidi”, meanwhile, is pure internet nonsense. First a Russian pop song, then a YouTube series starring toilets with human heads, it’s now a catch-all word that can mean “cool”, “bad”, or absolutely nothing. Kim Kardashian even wore a necklace with “skibidi toilet” engraved on it, because of course she did. The word skibidi saw increased use via a series of surreal videos on YouTube, the first of which has been viewed more than six crore times
Other new entries are more down-to-earth. “Delulu” (short for delusional), “mouse jiggler” (a little gadget that makes it look like you’re working from home when you’re not), plus “work wife” and “work spouse” all made the cut.
Dictionary experts say they only add words that look like they’ll stick around. Which means today’s silly slang might be tomorrow’s everyday English. After all, if skibidi can make it, what’s stopping your favourite meme from ending up in print too?