Zalgo
(internet slang) In full Zalgo text: text that appears corrupted or creepy due to the deliberate overuse of diacritics.
Etymology timeline
Born ~2004 · 1 year of recorded useLate-Millennial / Web 2.0 eraSee decade cohort →
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#1·Apr 26, 2026
(internet slang) In full Zalgo text: text that appears corrupted or creepy due to the deliberate overuse of diacritics.
Origin: Said to have been coined in 2004 by Dave “Shmorky” Kelly as the name of a mysterious malevolent entity appearing in webcomics and creepypasta. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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#2·Apr 26, 2026
(programming, humorous) A notional entity said to be "released" due to unpredictable program behaviour resulting from an API's inconsistent use of synchronous versus asynchronous operations.
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