2010s slang
The 2010s were when AAVE-rooted slang fully colonized mainstream English via Vine, Tumblr, and early Twitter. Lit, savage, basic, ratchet, on fleek, bae, slay, snatched โ all peaked within this decade.
It was also when the meme-as-vocabulary loop accelerated: words emerged from Vines, were memed for six weeks, and ended up in Wendy's tweets. The decade closed with OK boomer, TikTok's emergence, and the early days of stan Twitter shaping the next wave.
The 2010s lexicon ยท 71 terms
Bottom line
The 2010s gave us the vocabulary the 2020s built on. Most 2010s peak terms (on fleek, bae) are dated now; but the structures (the AAVE โ Twitter โ mainstream pipeline) defined how slang has worked since.
FAQ
What slang defined the 2010s?+
Lit, slay, savage, basic, ratchet, on fleek, bae, finsta, lowkey, stan, shade, tea โ most current Gen Z slang has 2010s roots, with AAVE doing the heaviest lifting.
Which 2010s slang made it into modern English?+
Stan, lit, slay, savage, lowkey/highkey, and basic all survived into 2026. On fleek, bae, and finsta read as dated. The structures (AAVE โ Twitter โ mainstream pipeline) persist even where the specific words don't.
What 2010s slang sounds dated now?+
On fleek (peak 2014), bae (peak 2014-15), Netflix and chill (peak 2015), squad (peak 2016), turnt (peak 2014-16) all read as period markers.
Where did 2010s slang come from?+
Vine (massive influence 2013โ2017), Tumblr, AAVE, early Twitter, and ballroom/drag culture via RuPaul's Drag Race. The meme-as-vocabulary pipeline matured during this decade.
Related hubs
AAVE-rooted words and phrases that have shaped modern American English โ slay, periodt, finna, bussin', no cap, woke โ with attribution and historical context.
The slang that broke wide in 2020 โ quarantine, doomscrolling, Karen, cottagecore, OK boomer (peaking), TikTok dance vocabulary โ with context.
The slang that defined the 2000s โ bling, swagger, crunk, peace out, that's hot, snitch, bromance, hella (NorCal), iced out, frenemy.
Yas, slay, serve, read, throwing shade, the tea, kiki, mother โ the AAVE and Latin queer vocabulary that built drag, ballroom, and (eventually) mainstream pop.