OG

OG means “original,” someone or something that was there first and earned respect for it. It started as “original gangster,” but today it’s used for veterans, classics and the real version of anything.

What OG means today

Merriam-Webster defines OG as an original or originator, especially one who is highly respected. Your OG friends are the ones who knew you before you were cool. An OG fan has liked the band since the first album. The OG recipe is the one before anyone “improved” it. It can be a noun (“he’s an OG”) or an adjective (“the OG Star Wars”).

Dictionary.com notes it can also mean authentic or old-school, and people sometimes use it ironically: the coworker who has been at the company for eighteen months is “the OG.”

Examples

• “Shoutout to the OGs who followed me when I had 50 followers.”
• “The remake is fine, but the OG movie is better.”
• “My grandma is the OG of holiday baking.”

Where OG came from

OG stands for “original gangster.” In a 2006 essay, former Crips members Steve Champion and Anthony Ross wrote that the Crips first used it in the early 1970s. Rap brought it to a much wider audience. Merriam-Webster says Ice-T’s 1991 album O.G. Original Gangster likely helped the term spread, and gives a first known use of around 1991. The album went gold and reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200.

Over the following decades the gang meaning faded for most speakers, and OG became general praise for anything original or long-standing.

Not to be confused with

In chemistry, Og is the symbol for oganesson, element 118.

Related terms

• GOAT: greatest of all time.
• Goated: excellent, the best.
• Based: confidently yourself.
• Bestie: best friend.

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