teenspeak

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noun

Communication by adolescents viewed as slangy, awkward, or immature.

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Meanings

nounteenspeak (uncountable)
  1. derogatoryhumorousuncountableCommunication by adolescents viewed as slangy, awkward, or immature.

    Real teenspeak is a mess of ums, likes, you knows, tangents and runaway trains of thought that, when transcribed onto paper, are pretty much impenetrable.

    2011, Deborah Halverson, M. T. Anderson, Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies, page 175
    2 more examples

    "Righteous" and "dude" were part of teenspeak at the time, and had already been immortalized by another clueless adult, Grace, the Wite-Out sniffing secretary (Edie McClurg) speaking of the hero in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

    2011, John Ross Bowie, Heathers: A Novel Approach to Cinema, page 51

    […] "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tomasi. Thank you for the party tonight. That's just sick." "Sick means good in teenspeak," Audrey translated, before demanding, "What party?"

    2013, Lucy Monroe, Million Dollar Christmas Proposal, page 107

Origin

From teen + -speak.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

teenspeak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenspeak

MLA

“teenspeak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenspeak. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “teenspeak,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenspeak.

Source: teenspeak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.