Skibidi entered the Cambridge Dictionary in 2024, joining a lively parade of slang words that have wiggled from pop culture into official recognition. Not every new entry comes with a clear-cut meaning, and skibidi is no exception. It’s definition can still feel elusive, which makes it worth unpacking.
The British Dictionary noted in a press release that skibidi “can have different meanings such as ‘cool’ or ‘bad,’ or can be with no real meaning as a joke.” In everyday use, a child might ask, “What the skibidi are you doing?” Or someone might comment, “That wasn’t very skibidi rizz of you.”
If that sounds confusing, it’s worth paying attention. Colin McIntosh, Lexical Programme Manager at Cambridge Dictionary, says the term is sticking around. “We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power,” he said in the press release.
Catch up on more teen slang!
What is the origin of ‘skibidi?’
According to Know Your Meme, the word “skibidi” is from a series of TikTok videos first posted in 2022, featuring Yasin Cengiz rhythmically moving his midriff to the song, “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by music group Biser King.
What does skibidi mean?
On Urban Dictionary, skibidi is defined as “usually used to start a convo, specifically a convo filled with brain rot.” The site explains that “brain rot” refers to a person’s mind turning to mush when obsessing over something. In other words, using skibidi in a sentence often signals the start of a deliberately absurd or ridiculous conversation.
“The most interesting thing about the word skibidi is that, unlike a regular word, it doesn’t have a set definition but can just be used as an adjective anywhere,” Adam Aleksic, aka the “Etymology Nerd,” said in a TikTok video.
Aleksic added, “At the same time, it’s not just a random cluster of letters — instead, it follows the phonotactical rules of how words are put together in the English language. We call these ‘pseudo words.’ They’re completely meaningless but still recognizable as words and able to be pronounced.”
Aleksic says skibidi is more like a “non-lexical vocal” such as the name of the cartoon character Scooby Doo or even the sound “la, la, la.”
What is ‘skibidi toilet?’
Similar to the slang phrases “fax, no printer” and “NPC,” there are variations of “skibidi” — for example, “skibidi toilet,” “Ohio skibidi toilet” and “skibidi toilet rizz.” The slang “rizz” means “charisma.”
As stated by Know Your Meme, in February 2023, YouTuber “DaFuq!?Boom!” (real name Alexey Gerasimov) began creating “skibidi toilet” videos with different storylines that all involve a man’s head popping out of a toilet, lip syncing to a remix of “Dom Dom Yes Yes” with “Give It To Me” by Timbaland.
The franchise has since expanded into a broader entertainment property, with licensing deals for toys, merchandise, as well as collaborations in games like Fortnite, PUBG, Minecraft, and Roblox, where it it has earned over 5.5 billion visits, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
That video, with 3.8 million likes and more than 171 million views, is captioned “toilet in Ohio.” Know Your Meme states that the “Ohio” reference came from a series of older memes that suggested the midwestern state should fall off the map — for mysterious reasons.
Oh, and if you’re sick of skibidi toilet, you might have skibidi toilet syndrome. According to Know Your Meme, it’s a fake illness to describe the aftereffects of watching too many of these videos.
Our prescription? Turn off the Wi-Fi.
