big back

Big back means a big body, usually a person who loves to eat. “Big back behavior” is ordering the large fries, the extra side and dessert, too.

What big back means

Merriam-Webster defines big back as a large body, whether that’s from working out or from being round and full-figured. It can describe objects too: a huge burger, oversized mozzarella sticks or a chunky old TV can all be “big back.”

Online, it’s mostly about food. “Big back behavior” means eating like someone with a big appetite, and “big backery” (or “bigbackery”) is either that behavior or the giant meal itself.

Examples

• “I ordered two entrées and a milkshake. Big back behavior.”
• “That burger is so big back, it needs its own chair.”
• “I’m a big back, I already know what I’m getting for lunch.”

Where it came from

In African American and Caribbean English, “back” has long meant someone’s rear end, especially a large one, as in Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 song “Baby Got Back.” Merriam-Webster notes that some online sources trace big back to that use, stretched from the backside to the whole body. It took off on social media in the mid-2020s.

A note for parents

Big back can be used to body-shame, and kids do use it as an insult. But people also use it about themselves, proudly and jokingly, about how much they love food. Whether it’s fine or hurtful depends on who’s saying it, and about whom. Calling yourself big back is a joke; calling a classmate big back usually isn’t.

Related terms

• Fanum tax: stealing a bite of a friend’s food.
• Girl dinner: a snack-plate meal.
• Bussin: really good, especially food.
• Thicc: curvy.

See more terms like this in our Gen Alpha slang guide.