'Hella' is Northern Californian English for 'very' or 'a lot of'. 'Hella good' = 'really good'; 'hella people' = 'lots of people'. Originated in the Bay Area in the 1980s and spread nationally and globally. If your teen uses it, they are using American intensifier slang. Harmless and conversational. Word of caution: in some communities the religiously-objectionable origin (rhyming with 'hell of a') makes older speakers prefer alternatives.
hella
Very, a lot.
/ˈhɛlə/Documented since 2000s2000sGen ZtrendingCurrent337 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026＋ Add a definition
Seen in the wild
3 citations · last seen May 2026
Etymology timeline
Born ~2000 · 1 year of recorded useLate-Millennial / Web 2.0 eraSee decade cohort →
Seen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
I was more talking about not doing anything dumb. I say go for the getting hella drunk, just don't end up doing something you regret. Enjoy yourself fr fr
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BlueskyMay 2026
Damn, and COD is a popular game hwere you kill hwite people, AND are a force of imperialism in its campaigns—especially in Black Ops 1. These people hella hypocrites—fascist hypocrites.
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BlueskyMay 2026
Exactly! There is so much evidence against so many of them. They were doing some hella bad things. inconceivable, beyond the realm of comprehension things. Dangerous animals need to be kept in cages.😐
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Wikipedia: Hella (company)
Hella has approximately 37,000 employees at over 125 locations worldwide and generated consolidated sales of €8.
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Wikipedia: Hella (company)
Hella is one of the top 50 global automotive suppliers, and one of the 100 largest industrial companies in Germany.
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Definitions
US
+934100%
#1·Apr 24, 2026US
Very, a lot. Adverb intensifier — "hella tired," "hella good," "hella expensive." NorCal / Bay Area staple that spread nationally in the early 2000s. Gets the job done when "very" feels too formal and "mad" feels too regional.
See it in action
“I was more talking about not doing anything dumb. I say go for the getting hella drunk, just don't end up doing something you regret. Enjoy yourself fr fr”
“Damn, and COD is a popular game hwere you kill hwite people, AND are a force of imperialism in its campaigns—especially in Black Ops 1. These people hella hypocrites—fascist hypocrites.”
“Exactly! There is so much evidence against so many of them. They were doing some hella bad things. inconceivable, beyond the realm of comprehension things. Dangerous animals need to be kept in cages.😐”
"The line was hella long."
Origin: Bay Area / Northern California staple; spread nationally in the early 2000s.
For parents
'Hella' is Northern Californian English for 'very' or 'a lot of'. 'Hella good' = 'really good'; 'hella people' = 'lots of people'. Originated in the Bay Area in the 1980s and spread nationally and globally. If your teen uses it, they are using American intensifier slang. Harmless and conversational. Word of caution: in some communities the religiously-objectionable origin (rhyming with 'hell of a') makes older speakers prefer alternatives.
For ESL learners
'Hella' is Northern Californian (Bay Area) English meaning 'very' or 'a lot of'. Origin: a 1980s contraction of 'hell of a'. Use as an intensifier before adjectives ('hella tired') or as a quantifier before nouns ('hella people'). Register: informal, originally regional, now mainstream youth speech in much of the English-speaking world. In formal English use 'very' or 'a great deal of'. A common learner mistake is to confuse it with 'hello'; pronunciation and grammar are entirely different.
Cluster: intensifier
Heard in the wild
“I was more talking about not doing anything dumb. I say go for the getting hella drunk, just don't end up doing something you regret. Enjoy yourself fr fr”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Damn, and COD is a popular game hwere you kill hwite people, AND are a force of imperialism in its campaigns—especially in Black Ops 1. These people hella hypocrites—fascist hypocrites.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Exactly! There is so much evidence against so many of them. They were doing some hella bad things. inconceivable, beyond the realm of comprehension things. Dangerous animals need to be kept in cages.😐”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Hella has approximately 37,000 employees at over 125 locations worldwide and generated consolidated sales of €8.”
“Hella is one of the top 50 global automotive suppliers, and one of the 100 largest industrial companies in Germany.”
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Show 3 more dictionary-style senses (imported)
US-WEST
#2·May 2, 2026US-WEST
For sure; totally; hell yeah; used as a strong affirmation of something that was just said, accomplished, or revealed.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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US-WEST
#3·May 2, 2026US-WEST
to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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US-WEST
#4·May 2, 2026US-WEST
; to a large extent; totally; very much.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Other words near "hella" (H)
hei-tikiHelenHelenahelicopterhelicopter earhelispothellacioushella codedhellacoolhella energyhella failhellagood
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Related terms
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Semantically related
- hellagood74%
Northern California slang meaning exceptionally good — an intensified mashup of the Bay Area's beloved all-purpose amplifier 'hella' and 'good'. If something is hellagood, it's not just nice, it's thoroughly, emphatically excellent. The term captures the laid-back enthusiasm of NorCal speech, where hella operates like 'really' or 'very' but with way more personality. Widely used from the Bay to Sacramento, it's the region's flavourful upgrade on 'awesome'.
- hella mode71%
When someone or something is operating at full intensity, turned all the way up with zero chill. Hella mode isn't just a vibe — it's a state of being where everything is cranked to eleven and people can tell from a mile away. You enter hella mode when the playlist slaps, the energy in the room is unmatched, and you literally cannot turn it down. Often used to describe a person who has suddenly switched into overdrive, whether at a party, during a workout, or on the internet clapping back at someone who had it coming.