In today’s fast-paced world of texting and online chatting, people often use abbreviations and short forms to save time. These shortcuts make conversations quicker and more fun—especially when chatting with friends or in groups. Here are some of the most common and widely accepted short forms you’ll come across:
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| LOL | Laugh Out Loud |
| BRB | Be Right Back |
| BTW | By The Way |
| IDK | I Don’t Know |
| IMO | In My Opinion |
| TTYL | Talk To You Later |
| OMG | Oh My God |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| DM | Direct Message |
Much of the internet is dominated by the English language, whether it’s American, Canadian, UK, or Australian. 58.8% of websites are written in English! For context, the next most prevalent website language is Russian, coming in at just 5.3%.
Have you ever wondered when someone writes TIA while you texting them? TIA full form in chat usually stands for Thanks In Advance
Additionally, there are so many English-speaking people in the world that you’ll likely make a friend with one or two in your life, especially in this age of global connectivity. If your friend is from an English-speaking country, they likely have a whole vocabulary of shortcut chatting words that you’ll want to know so you can communicate better via internet or text.
So, if you want to have access to at least 58.8% of websites, plus countless comments on videos, posts, and articles, and be able to understand native English texters, you’ll need to know English and be familiar with typical English abbreviations.
90+ Short Forms in English For Chatting Commonly Used In 2025
Here is the list of the top 100 abbreviations the younger generation utilizes in text chats:
| Abbreviation | Short Form in Chat |
|---|---|
| FTW | For The Win |
| BYOB | Bring Your Drink |
| BRB | Be Right Back |
| WDYM | What Do You Mean? |
| LOL | Laugh Out Loud |
| STFU | Shut The F*ck Up |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Question |
| PAA | People Also Asked |
| LMAO | Laugh My Ass Out |
| IYKYK | If You Know You Know |
| IMO/IMHO | In My Opinion / In My Honest Opinion |
| TTYL | Talk To You Later |
| TBH | To Be Honest |
| ASAP | As Soon As Possible |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| GTN | Good To Know |
| TFW | That Feeling When… |
| MFW | My Face When… |
| SMH | Shaking My Head |
| YTA/NTA | You’re The Ahole / Not The Ahole |
| YMMV | Your Mileage May Vary |
| AFAIK | As Far As I Know |
| FWIW | For What It’s Worth |
| ICYMI | In Case You Missed It |
| IIRC | If I Remember Correctly |
| TL;DR | Too Long; Didn’t Read |
| IRL | In Real Life |
| TIL | Today I Learned |
| SFW/NSFW | Safe For Work / Not Safe For Work |
| SFL/NSFL | Safe for Life / Not Safe For Life |
| NBD | No Big Deal |
| OC | Original Content |
| OP | Original Poster |
| DIY | Do It Yourself |
| DAE | Does Anyone Else…? |
| TIA | Thanks In Advance |
| HMU | Hit Me Up |
| OMW | On My Way |
| IDK | I Don’t Know |
| IDC | I Don’t Care |
| NFS | Not For Sale (In online marketplaces, specifies that an item isn’t for sale) |
| OBO | Or Best Offer (In online marketplaces, indicates openness to haggling) |
| DM | Direct Message |
| LMK | Let Me Know |
| TGIF | Thank God It’s Friday |
| TY / THX | Thank You / Thanks |
| YW | You’re Welcome |
| GM | Good Morning |
| GN | Good Night |
| AKA | Also Known As |
| BF / GF | Boyfriend / Girlfriend |
| SO | Significant Other |
| ILY / ILYSM | I Love You / I Love You So Much |
| ATM | At The Moment |
| BYOB | Bring Your Own Booze/Beverage (Used when organizing events to tell guests that drinks won’t be provided) |
| G2G | Got To Go or Got 2 Go |
| NVM | Nevermind |
| RN | Right Now |
| OOTD / QOTD | Outfit Of The Day / Quote Of The Day |
| PLZ | Please |
| BC | Because |
| TBA / TBD | To Be Announced / To Be Determined |
| ETA | Estimated Time of Arrival |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions |
| N/A | Not Applicable |
| OOO | Out Of Office (Indicates someone is not in the office, used in business settings) |
| WCW | Woman Crush Wednesday |
| MCM | Man Crush Monday |
| ISO | In Search Of |
| FTFY | Fixed That For You |
| NGL | Not Gonna Lie |
| BTS | Behind The Scenes |
| IKR | I Know, Right? |
| AMA | Ask Me Anything |
| ELI5 | Explain Like I’m 5 (years old) |
| IANAL/NAL/IAAL | I Am Not A Lawyer / Not A Lawyer / I Am A Lawyer (Used in discussions to clarify the non-professional status of legal advice given) |
| IANAD/NAD/IAAD | I Am Not A Doctor / Not A Doctor / I Am A Doctor (Similar to IANAL, used when discussing medical advice) |
| CMV | Change My View (Used when someone is open to changing their opinion on a subject) |
| LPT | Life Pro-Tip |
| YSK | You Should Know (Used to introduce information others might find useful) |
| PSA | Public Service Announcement |
| Alt | Refers to an Alternate Account |
| TIHI | Thanks, I Hate It |
| Mod | Moderator or Moderation for a group or post |
| ETA / Edit | Edited to Add (Used to indicate what changes were made to a post or comment after editing) |
| IDEK | I Don’t Even Know |
| MSM | Mainstream Media |
| MLM | Multi-Level Marketing |
| Sus | Suspicious |
| TIFU | Today I F***ed Up |
| TBF | To Be Fair |
| TW / CW | Trigger Warning / Content Warning (Used to precede content that might cause distress) |
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Now, you can navigate the English part of the web with much more ease! There are many other short forms out there that you will encounter, but with context clues, a Google search, or asking someone in the post directly, you can easily learn the ins and outs of internet jargon.
Gen Z Words You Must Know In 2025
| Slang Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Cap | Lying or making false statements; "No Cap" means telling the truth. |
| Caught in 4K | Unmistakably caught doing something, implying high-definition evidence. |
| Cheugy | Something once popular but now outdated or trying too hard. |
| Chronically Online | Spending a significant amount of time on the internet, with personality heavily influenced by online culture. |
| Coffee Badging | Briefly showing up at the workplace to interact before leaving, combining physical presence with remote work flexibility. |
| Cringe | Content or behavior that's embarrassing or uncomfortable to witness. |
| Drip | A distinct and confident fashion sense, or anything that exudes confidence or elegance. |
| Doomscrolling | Compulsively scrolling through negative news online, contributing to feelings of anxiety and depression. |
| ELI5 | "Explain Like I’m 5", seeking a simplified explanation of complex concepts. |
| Extra | Exaggerated, excessive, or dramatic behavior or appearance. |
| Fam | A term used for close friends or groups, akin to "family". |
| Glow Up | A positive transformation in appearance, confidence, or lifestyle. |
| CEO | Being the best at something; mastering it. |
| Cancel Culture | Shaming public figures, companies, or organizations for their actions or opinions. |
| Stan | Being an obsessed fan of someone in a positive way. |
| E-boy / E-girl | Internet expressions of emo or goth cultures. |
| W | Means "win" in Gen Z slang. |
| Dank | Excellent or of very high quality. |
| Ghosting | Ignoring someone or stopping texting them back during the early stages of a relationship. |
| Salty | Feeling jealous or bitter. |
Remember, Gen Z's way of talking is NOT a formal way of communication, it is used to communicate with each other. Remember, slang evolves quickly, and the meanings or connotations of these terms can shift over time or vary across different communities
How Important Are Short Forms (Abbreviations) in Chats?
Using short forms or abbreviations has been standard practice for thousands of years. When people were strictly handwriting, saving time, energy, ink, and paper (or stone tablets) was made possible by creating standard short forms. And this practice was practiced all over the world, in many different languages, not just English or any precursor languages.
It only makes sense that internet slang and abbreviations were invented essentially as soon as the internet was!
Since short forms are used so commonly, they have become a very important part of conveying messages. While typically only used in more casual settings, short forms are meant to be able to convey not only an idea or topic, but a connotation and feeling behind it as well.
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English is a nuanced language, and those levels of meaning are even carried on to the written form. Sometimes it can be hard to determine precisely what the meaning behind someone’s comment or text means, even to native speakers! It can also be tricky to ensure your message is delivered correctly.
So, if you’re ever unsure, you can ask the person you’re talking with to elaborate on what they meant or you can search the term online and see what the standard internet definition is, currently (since words change meaning all the time online).
Cultural Significance of Text Abbreviations
Internet abbreviations in English have evolved over the past few decades as the internet itself has changed.
Some of the earliest English internet abbreviations include:
- TTFN: Ta-Ta For Now (in the style of Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh”)
- ASL: Age/Sex/Location (to ask people about themselves in a chat room)
- ROFL: Rolling On the Floor Laughing
- BBS / BBL: Be Back Soon / Be Back Later (to let people know you will be leaving the chat for a while, and since there were no smartphones, you would not be available)
- POS: Parents Over Shoulder (to indicate that you can’t have anything inappropriate popping up on your screen, since the family desktop computer was not private)
And many other embarrassing words were commonly used when the internet was first widely available.
How New Abbreviations and Short Forms Enter the Internet’s Lexicon
Over time, as with anything, the internet has adopted and abandoned many words. Time “moves faster” online, so the language is constantly changing.
It’s because of these rapid and abrupt changes that older people online (people over age 26 or so) feel exponentially older and more out of the loop with each passing day. The youths are the ring leaders when it comes to internet trends!
It seems crazy to think that a new word starts with just one person, which then is used by more and more people until the whole world begins to adopt the word into their own vocabulary, but that’s what happens!
In the recent past, short form in chat words that were adopted (and abandoned) include
- YOLO (You Live Only Once)
- FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
- Peeps (Short form for people)
- Bae (Short form for Babe)
- GOAT (Greatest Of All-Time)
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The Tone of an Era
Just like pop music, the jargon used by the majority in spaces where ideas are shared (even if the quality of ideas vastly varies) both reflects the general attitude of the population as a whole and influences how people feel in a constant cycle.
Using outdated terms can mean you are clueless about how the world works today (cue Steve Buschemi with a backward hat and a skateboard saying “How do you do, fellow kids?”). It can put other internet users off because they might think you have outdated ideas and generally won’t understand what’s going on in the conversation.
Oppositely, when using outdated terms ironically, it can be very humorous. These are the layers of nuance that is the English language!
When you understand internet abbreviations for texting and online culture, you can more easily have interactions with more people. You’ll be able to speak the same nuanced language as the other people you’re talking to, including connotations, denotations, implications, and explications.
Understand common short-form words, abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms, and slang to understand the general feeling of the groups you’re talking to and avoid being the dad who thought “LOL” meant “Lots of Love” and told everyone LOL when grandma passed away…
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When To Use & NOT To Use Abbreviations
With great abbreviations comes great responsibility.
There are specific times and places when it’s inappropriate to use short-form words, and it’s very important to know!
In Business Communications
For the most part, do NOT use short-form slang words for business!
You can certainly use industry-specific terms, like B2B, B2C, KPI, IT, LLC, CEO, AP & AR, QA/QC, EOD, ETA, BOM, etc.
However, it’s important to avoid using terms like BRB, IDK, LOL, IKR, or other slangy terms when writing to someone about business affairs. In a casual message between co-workers, it can be acceptable, but if you’re writing to anyone with a higher position than you or about something serious, you should avoid these words altogether.
Website Text
If you’re creating a website or writing for one, you need to avoid abbreviations unless it’s part of the brand identity.
Writing Blogs and Posts
To be taken seriously and have people actually listen to what you’re saying, avoid abbreviations in any type of scholarly text you’re writing, even if it’s a social media post.
You may use certain short forms if they are part of the brand or if you are writing about social trends, but use them sparingly and with intention.
Comments, Tweets (X’s?), Threads, Texts, and More
For casual internet and texting interactions, feel free to use abbreviations as much as you’d like! It’s all about communication and feeling a connection with others.
"The Internet has brought communities across the globe closer together through instant communication." - Mike Fitzpatrick
So, do you speak in the millennial chat form or speak like a Gen Z?
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