Gyatt

{{Short description|Internet slang word}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Italic title}} {{For multi|the song|Gyatt (song)|the United States Navy ship|USS Gyatt}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} '''''Gyatt''''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|j|ɑː|t|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Gyatt.wav}}) is a term from African-American Vernacular English originally used in exclamation, such as "''gyatt damn''". In the 2020s, the word experienced a semantic shift and gained the additional meaning of "a person, usually a woman, with large and attractive buttocks and sometimes an hourglass figure".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Topsfield |first=Jewel |date=2023-11-18 |title=Bruh, what's a Fanum tax? Your guide to Gen Alpha slang |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/bruh-what-s-a-fanum-tax-your-guide-to-gen-alpha-slang-20231117-p5ekrh.html |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=2024-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224051613/https://www.smh.com.au/national/bruh-what-s-a-fanum-tax-your-guide-to-gen-alpha-slang-20231117-p5ekrh.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Press-Reynolds">{{Cite web |last=Press-Reynolds |first=Kieran |title=A woman's Gen Alpha sister explained the meaning of GYAT to her and it's making everyone feel very old |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-alpha-slang-gyat-meaning-explained-millennial-2023-11 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130210812/https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-alpha-slang-gyat-meaning-explained-millennial-2023-11 |url-status=live }}</ref>

With slightly varying definitions, ''gyatt'' garnered virality on the social media platform TikTok in 2022<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Molly |date=2022-05-25 |title=Social media users confused over new TikTok slang GYAT |url=https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/05/25/what-does-gyat-mean-as-slang-term-goes-viral-in-tiktok-trend/ |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=HITC |language=en-GB |archive-date=2024-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224045226/https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/05/25/what-does-gyat-mean-as-slang-term-goes-viral-in-tiktok-trend/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in part due to its frequent use by various online streamers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Calver |first=Charlie |date=2023-09-11 |title=The dating term dictionary for 2023 |url=https://www.gq.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/dating-term-meanings/image-gallery/7759a787a9d7a35ffc12bab9a0902ead |access-date=2024-02-24 |work=GQ}}</ref> It has become an internet meme, particularly employed and popularized by Generation Alpha.<ref name="Kircher-2023">{{Cite news |last=Kircher |first=Madison |date=2023-11-09 |title=Gen Alpha Is Here. Can You Understand Their Slang? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/style/gen-alpha-slang.html |access-date=2024-02-24 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=2023-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221112338/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/style/gen-alpha-slang.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Parents and Gen Alpha kids are having unintelligible convos because of 'brainrot' language |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/gen-alpha-kids-parents-brainrot-language-rcna162227 |website=NBC News |language=en |date=10 August 2024}}</ref>

== Etymology ==

According to American linguist John McWhorter, the term "evolved from 'goddamn'."<ref name="Solé-2024">{{Cite web |last=Solé |first=Elise |date=2024-01-10 |title=The kids are saying 'GYAT': What does it mean? |url=https://www.today.com/parents/teens/gyat-meaning-rcna129527 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224020032/https://www.today.com/parents/teens/gyat-meaning-rcna129527 |archive-date=2024-02-24 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref> Kelly Elizabeth Wright, a research fellow in language sciences at Virginia Tech, claims that the provenance of ''gyatt'' is thought to be Black Southern, Jamaican, among other communities of the African diaspora.<ref name="Solé-2024" /> The term is attributed to having roots of African-American Vernacular English.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Portée |first=Alex |date=2024-02-23 |title=How did words like period, GYAT, cap, and drip come to be? All about the Black history of slang |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/black-history-slang-rcna137773 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== 2022 semantic shift === [[File:Kai_Cenat.png|thumb|Popular streamer Kai Cenat, who popularized the word ''gyatt''|220x220px]] The current meaning of the term ''gyatt'' was coined by online streamer YourRAGE, who used it to describe a physically attractive woman, and it was popularized by Kai Cenat, an American Twitch streamer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Monaghan |first=Becca |date=2023-11-29 |title=The coded meaning behind 'gyatt' on TikTok {{!}} indy100 |url=https://www.indy100.com/tiktok/what-does-gyatt-mean-tiktok-2666387145 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224051613/https://www.indy100.com/tiktok/what-does-gyatt-mean-tiktok-2666387145 |archive-date=2024-02-24 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=Indy100 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-15 |title=This song wants you to stick out your what!? |url=https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2023/12/15/gen-alpha-tiktok-lingo |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=NPR (WBUR, Boston) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ihaza |first=Jeff |date=2023-12-07 |title=Kai Cenat, Twitch, and 'Rizz': How the Rap Internet Ruled 2023 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/what-is-rizz-gyat-sigma-kai-cenat-twitch-1234918576/ |access-date=2024-03-17 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Blockquote |text=Everybody used to say "god damn" or "golly" but I said it weird. I'd always say "gyatt", I would never say "god damn". Chat realized that, and a way of making fun of me in 2020, they started typing "gyatt" to mock me. |author=YourRAGE |source="THE ONLY DEFINITION OF #GYATT 😒 #gyat #gyatttttttt" (2023)<ref>{{cite web|language=en|author=YourRAGE|title=THE ONLY DEFINITION OF #GYATT 😒 #gyat #gyatttttttt|website=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewsJwsT8_0|archiveurl=https://archive.today/5N5vo|archivedate=13 October 2023|date=4 June 2023}}</ref> }}

On October 2, 2023, a TikTok account under the username @ovp.9 posted a short video of a character from the online video game Fortnite "singing" to a musical parody of the 2021 song "ecstacy" by Suicidal-Idol.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Diaz |first=Ana |date=2023-10-19 |title='You're so Skibidi, so Fanum tax,' and other fun nonsense, explained |url=https://www.polygon.com/23921363/skibidi-fanum-tax-rizz-gyatt-gyat-meaning-meme-explained |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224183156/https://www.polygon.com/23921363/skibidi-fanum-tax-rizz-gyatt-gyat-meaning-meme-explained |archive-date=2024-02-24 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}</ref> The parody featured multiple internet culture terms, including ''Skibidi Toilet'' and ''rizz''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stanford |first=Kaitlin |date=2023-10-17 |title=What is 'Fanum tax'? TikTok song of Gen Alpha slang has Gen Z feeling like the new 'cringe' generation |url=https://www.intheknow.com/post/fanum-tax-sticking-out-your-gyat-for-the-rizzler-tiktok/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124172748/https://www.intheknow.com/post/fanum-tax-sticking-out-your-gyat-for-the-rizzler-tiktok/ |archive-date=2023-11-24 |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=In The Know |language=en-US}}</ref> According to ''The New York Times'', the parody is cited as "a key" to the popularization of ''gyatt''.<ref name="Kircher-2023" />

Backronyms have been created for the term like "Girl Your Ass [is] Thick", "Girl You Ate That", "Get Your Act Together", among others.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Laura |date=2023-05-19 |title=What does GYAT mean on TikTok? Viral slang term being used by thousands of users |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-gyat-mean-tiktok-viral-26952937 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Birmingham Mail |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-04 |title=The kids are saying 'GYAT': What does it mean? |url=https://www.today.com/parents/teens/gyat-meaning-rcna129527 |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=Today |language=en}}</ref>

== Usage == According to ''Legit.ng'', the term is commonly used by "guys when they see a girl, usually with a curvy body type," and can also be used to indicate enthusiasm or excitement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mongina |first=Night |date=2023-07-14 |title=What does GYATT mean? A popular TikTok slang term explained |url=https://www.legit.ng/ask-legit/1543329-what-gyatt-a-popular-tiktok-slang-term-explained/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |newspaper=Legit.ng |language=en}}</ref>

''Gyatt'' is characterized in the media as a term used both by Generation Alpha and Generation Z.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hatch |first=Megan |date=2024-02-23 |title=What do these Gen Z slang words mean? 24 popular terms explained |url=https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/what-do-these-gen-z-slang-words-mean-24-popular-terms-explained/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=WSYR-TV |language=en-US}}</ref> However, some members of Generation Z have stated that they do not attribute the term to their cohort.<ref name="Press-Reynolds" /> According to ''The Today Show'', the term is used verbally and on messaging platforms such as Discord, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, and YouTube.<ref name="Solé-2024" />

== Reception and impact == Alongside its attribution with Generation Alpha, ''gyatt'' has been of interest to digital marketers in consideration of the cohort's emerging consumer consumption.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bradley |first=Diana |title=Marketers must learn to understand Gen Alpha's humor, attitude and lingo |url=https://www.campaignlive.com/article/marketers-learn-understand-gen-alphas-humor-attitude-lingo/1848642?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Campaign |language=en}}</ref> The term was nominated for the American Dialect Society's ''2023 Word of The Year''.<ref name="Solé-2024" /><ref>{{Cite press release |title=American Dialect Society Selects "enshittification" as 2023 Word of the Year |date=2024-01-05 |publisher=American Dialect Society |url=https://americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf |access-date=2025-04-12 |last1=Roberts |first1=Julie}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Wiktionary|gyat|gyatt}} *{{wiktionary-inline|gyatt}}

Category:Internet slang Category:2020s slang Category:2022 neologisms Category:Internet memes introduced in 2022 Category:Generation Alpha slang Category:Buttocks Category:Generation Z slang