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Slang file #002Here to stayFeelings & vibes

What does cringe mean?

Say itKRINJ/krɪndʒ/adjective

So embarrassing or awkward that it makes you feel uncomfortable, often because you feel embarrassed for someone else.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

As slang, cringe describes something so embarrassing or awkward that it makes you want to hide your face. Often the embarrassment is not even yours: you feel it for someone else. You will see it in comments on TikTok and YouTube, in group chats, and in jokes about old photos.

It is one syllable, said like “krinj”. The word is informal slang, most common with teens and young adults online. It is not a bad word, but it is a judgment, so calling a person cringe can hurt their feelings.

Word stats

How casual
Informal slang. Use it with friends and online, but not in an essay or an email to your teacher.
OK at work
Okay for laughing at your own old photos in a friendly chat. Calling a coworker’s work cringe is a bad idea.
Grandma-safe
It is not a bad word, so it is safe with relatives. Teens say it to their parents all the time, usually about their dancing.
Cringe risk
Low, which is lucky for a word with this name. Just don’t call everything cringe, or people may start saying it about you.
Freshness
Steady. About as many people look it up as last year, so it is neither new nor fading.

Spotted in the wild

Group chat · Sunday, 4:15 pm
  1. Anamy phone just showed me a photo memory from 2015
  2. Anasunglasses indoors. caption: “living my best life” 😭
  3. YouSTOP that is so cringe
  4. Benpost it. you won’t
  5. Ananever. deleting it right now

What it means here: The old photo is so embarrassing now that Ana wants it gone forever.

Comments on a bank’s ad
  1. MegaBankSaving money is lit, fam 🔥 Open an account today, no cap!
  2. jess_kthe cringe is unreal
  3. dan.codesa bank saying “no cap”… i cringed so hard
  4. lina.bwho approved this 😭

What it means here: People feel embarrassed for the bank because it is trying too hard to sound young.

Text with Mom
  1. MomI put our vacation photos on Facebook! #familygoals 😎
  2. Youmom… the hashtag is a little cringe
  3. MomIs cringe good?
  4. Younot really 😅 but the photos are cute

What it means here: A gentle tease: the hashtag feels a bit embarrassing, but nobody is upset.

How to use it

  • so / kind of / a little cringeHis old song lyrics are so cringe.
  • a cringe + nounCalling my teacher “Mom” was a total cringe moment.
  • the cringe (as a noun)I watched my first video again, and the cringe is unreal.
  • that’s cringe (as a short reply)“I waved back at someone who was waving at the person behind me.” “ok that’s cringe 😂”
  • cringe at / cringe when (the verb)I cringe when I hear my own voice in a video.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offI was so cringe when he forgot the words.

    Say thisI cringed when he forgot the words.

    The adjective describes the embarrassing thing, not the person who feels it. It works like boring and bored: the song is cringe, and you cringe.

  • Sounds offThat video made me cringey.

    Say thisThat video made me cringe.

    After “made me”, use the verb. The video is cringey, and it made you cringe.

  • Sounds off“kring” or “KRING-guh”

    Say this“KRINJ”

    It is one syllable. The g sounds like the j in “jam”, and the final e is silent.

  • Sounds offYour presentation was cringe.

    Say thisMaybe we can make the opening a little shorter.

    This word is a put-down. Saying it about someone’s work, or about the person, can hurt, even when you mean it as a joke.

cringe or not?

Is each of these cringe? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. Your uncle gives a long speech at a wedding. He makes five jokes, nobody laughs, and you want to hide under the table.

  2. You watch a horror movie and jump when the monster appears.

  3. You read your messages from when you were 14. They are full of dramatic poems and twenty emoji per line.

  4. Your friend gives a calm, clear speech at the wedding, and everyone claps.

The cringe family

  • secondhand embarrassmentEmbarrassment you feel for someone else, even though you did nothing wrong.The feeling behind most cringe. You did nothing, and you still want to hide.
  • the ickA sudden feeling of dislike for someone you liked, often after one small thing they do.A cousin from the dating world. One loud chewing sound, and it is over.
  • cultural cringeThe feeling that your own country’s culture is not as good as other countries’ cultures.Not slang at all. The Australian critic A. A. Phillips named it in a 1950 essay for the journal Meanjin.

Where it came from

  1. About 1225The verb is very old. The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest example is from around 1225. It comes from the Old English word “cringan”, meaning “to yield” [1], and it meant to bend low or pull back, often from fear [3].
  2. 1983Merriam-Webster gives 1983 as the first known use of cringe as an adjective meaning “embarrassing” [1]. The slang is decades older than the apps where it lives today.
  3. Mid-2010sAccording to the magazine Kinfolk, the word mostly worked as a verb until the mid-2010s, when it became an adjective in its own right. In the 2010s, younger people online used it to make fun of millennial internet culture.
  4. September 2022Merriam-Webster adds the slang adjective to its dictionary, in a list of 370 new words that also includes yeet and sus [2].

Cringe, cringey, or cringeworthy?

English has a small family of cringe words. They mean almost the same thing, but they fit into sentences in different ways and some are more casual than others.

WordExampleHow casual
cringe (verb)I cringed when he sang.Standard English, fine anywhere
cringe (adjective)His song was so cringe.Slang, very casual
cringey or cringyThat ad is so cringey.Casual, and both spellings are common
cringeworthyIt was a cringeworthy interview.Informal, but you also see it in news and reviews

Age matters too. Teens and people in their twenties use the adjective a lot. Many people in their thirties and forties are more likely to use the verb: “that made me cringe”.

In British English you may also hear cringe-making, as in “a cringe-making speech”.

If you are not sure which one to use, choose the verb. Everyone understands it, and it never sounds like you are trying too hard.

Sources

  1. CRINGE Definition & MeaningMerriam-Webster
  2. We Added 370 New Words to the Dictionary for September 2022Merriam-Webster, September 2022
  3. Cringe - Etymology, Origin & MeaningOnline Etymology Dictionary

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