British slang, and London slang in particular, has a reputation for being impossible to follow if you didn’t grow up with it. A lot of it comes from Multicultural London English, the youth dialect shaped by Caribbean, African and South Asian communities, and spread through grime, UK rap, comedy and social media. This guide explains the words you are most likely to hear, what they mean, and how to use them without sounding like you are trying too hard.

People and friends

• bruv: “brother,” used for a friend or any guy, like “bro” or “mate.”
• mandem: your group of guy friends. The female version is “gyaldem.”
• roadman: a young guy into street culture, or someone who dresses the part.
• wasteman: a useless, annoying or unreliable person.

Everyday words

• innit: “isn’t it,” tacked onto almost any sentence, or said alone to agree.
• ting: “thing,” and sometimes an event or gathering.
• bare: lots of, or very: “bare people,” “bare funny.”

Describing things and feelings

• peng: attractive, or just really good.
• peak: in UK street slang, bad or unlucky. Online, it can mean the best.
• gassed: really excited. “Gassing” means talking rubbish.
• knackered: exhausted, or broken and worn out.

A few tips

Most of these words are casual and youthful, so they can sound odd in a job interview or an email to your landlord. Words like “knackered” are used by almost everyone, while “peng” or “mandem” are strongly tied to younger speakers in cities. Some, like “ting” for a girl or “roadman” used as a stereotype, can come across as disrespectful, and each entry explains when.

We add new entries to this page as they are published.