Refer back to our dictionary when you're unsure about a word or phrase
You don't need to learn these terms – use this as a reference if you hear pupils use a word that you don't recognise.
This dictionary isn't exhaustive, but we'll continue to add more terms over time as they become relevant or noteworthy.
Your pupils might not understand the words they're using
This is especially true if pupils in your school are younger. It's important to remember that they:
- Might not mean to use this language in a hurtful way
- Might mean to use a different word
If you hear pupils using a term you don't recognise, you can ask them what they mean, and then check this resource to see if the pupil is using the word correctly.
If the term is potentially an offensive one, you can ask them:
- "Do you know that some people might be offended by that word/phrase?"
- "Do you know why it might be a bad idea to say that?"
Share this article with parents and carers
We've made a Google Doc with this information for you to share with parents and carers, as well as governors.
You can use the text below to introduce the digital dictionary:
The Key has produced a digital dictionary to help you understand the language your children might use both online and offline, and things they might read about on social media.
KeyGPT, The Key's AI-powered assistant, can help you write a letter to parents and carers explaining what this dictionary is for – edit the fields to suit your school's context.
Language related to cyber-bullying, harassment and cyber crime
| Cyber-stalking | Using the internet or text messages to repeatedly harass or bully someone – often using multiple apps and platforms and multiple accounts. | |
| Doxing / Doxxing | Publicly posting someone's private information (e.g. their name, address, place of work or school), usually without their consent. This information might be used to harass the person further. | |
| Dogpiling | When a group of people, usually a large group, target a single person with harassment. | |
| Griefing | Deliberately trying to ruin other people's fun in online games (e.g. blowing up another player's house in Minecraft). | |
| Finsta | 'Fake Insta/Fake Instagram' – this may mean a second, private, Instagram account for sharing more personal content with a trusted group of friends, or a second Instagram account made to look like another person, either to impersonate them or bully them. This is also known as a 'sock puppet account'. | |
| KYS | Stands for 'kill yourself', used to harass or upset others. | |
| Phishing | A kind of scam where criminals trick targets into giving up personal information (including bank details or account passwords). | |
| Ratio / Ratio'ing | When a negative response to a social media post gets far more positive engagement than the original post. | |
| Troll / Trolling | Deliberately saying hurtful or inflammatory things to get a response from someone, or a group of people. | |
| Sub-tweeting | Negatively talking about someone publicly on social media without tagging them in a post, so the person might not see it. It's most common on X (formerly Twitter) but can happen on other platforms. | |
| Swatting | Calling emergency services (usually the police) and falsely claiming a serious crime is happening at someone else's home (e.g. a bomb threat or a hostage situation), with the intent of police arriving at the person's house. This is done to harass and frighten someone. |
Language related to dating and sex
| Bodycount | A way for someone to say how many people they've had sex with (e.g. 'my bodycount is 3'). | |
| Catfishing | Pretending to be someone else on the internet (e.g. on dating apps), sometimes to trick others into sending them nude images and/or money. | |
| Ghosting | Suddenly breaking off all contact with someone, which might include blocking, 'unfriending' or unfollowing them on all platforms. This usually happens in romantic relationships but can also happen between friends. | |
| Hook-up / Hookup | Casual sex and/or casual sexual relationships. | |
| Nudes | Nude or semi-nude images. It's sometimes written as 'newds', 'noods' or 'n00ds' to avoid language filters on some apps. | |
| Thirst trap | A sexually-suggestive photo or image intended to grab people's attention. It usually isn't a nude image so it can be posted on social media. |
Language related to extreme beliefs
| 'Chad' and 'Stacy' | Used by people in the incel subculture to describe conventionally-attractive men ('Chads') and women ('Stacys'). | |
| Incel | 'Involuntary celibate' – a subculture mostly made of young men who think they're unable to find a romantic or sexual partner. People in this group may blame women and girls for this, and use sexist and misogynistic language to describe women. | |
| Manosphere | A subculture focused on masculinity and opposition to feminism. It's sometimes referred to as 'men's rights activism' or 'men going their own way (MGTOW)'. | |
| Taking the red pill |
To become aware of 'truths' about the world according to a subculture. This mostly relates to incel and manosphere culture, but is also used by far-right extremists (e.g. 'becoming red-pilled on race'). Incels sometimes use the term 'black pill' – hopelessness that there is nothing a man can do to improve his attractiveness to women. | |
| Great replacement |
A far-right conspiracy theory stating that the global elite is deliberately replacing the population of white people (mainly in Europe) with non-white people. It's related to 'white genocide' (see below). | |
| White genocide | A far-right conspiracy theory stating that there is a plot to make white people extinct. |
Wide media coverage of a popular TV show, soon to be available to all secondary schools, suggests that emojis like 🧨, 💯 and 🫘 may be used as part of conversations online about extremist ideas such as incel culture and the manosphere.
We haven't been able to confirm how they’re used, but it's worth being aware of what your child may ask you about.
If a pupil uses this language, it might be evidence that they are being radicalised. Find out your responsibilities under the Prevent duty, and how to make a referral.
Emojis with inappropriate meanings
Emojis can have lots of different meanings and most of the time children and young people will use them innocently. However, they might sometimes use them to discuss inappropriate things.
If you see your child using these emojis, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re using them in the ways described below.
Emojis change their meanings over time and can mean different things, depending on the context.
In this list, we've focused on emojis with inappropriate meanings that are widely recognised. The list isn't exhaustive, and we'll update it as we confirm definitions that are gaining wider use.
🌿 🥦 🍃 | Cannabis. | |
❄️ ⛄ 🎱 | Cocaine. | |
👀 🍜 | Nudes / noods – short for nude or semi-nude photos. | |
🔌 | Plug – slang term for a drug dealer. | |
🌽 | Pornography (rhyming ‘porn’ with ‘corn’). |
Use The Key Safeguarding to brief your team on online safety issues
If your school has Whole School membership of The Key or Leaders+ membership with The Key Safeguarding, you can access our online safety content, including:
- Lesson plans, assembly packs and posters teaching pupils about online safety
- Staff and parent factsheets on various apps and games
- Our briefings on:
- Tackling sexism and sexual harassment (1 hour)
- Bullying (including cyber-bullying) (40 minutes)
- Our 30-minute eLearning on preventing radicalisation
If you're not yet a member of The Key Safeguarding, find out more here.