A study has revealed the top 10 most searched slang words in Ireland so far in 2026.

From derogatory words to dance moves, there are several unique and quirky terms that Irish people have searched for a lot this year.

A spokesperson for Word Unscrambler, Randoh Sallihall, said the most common searched slang words of 2026 give “insight into the cultural conversations happening in Ireland”.

“Slang may look like a collection of throwaway jokes from the internet, but psychology suggests it is doing something much more interesting. Using slang helps people navigate identity and belong to a community,” he said.

The most commonly searched term on Google was “67”, which quite literally has no meaning. 

The term was featured in American rapper Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot”. Following this, NBA star LaMelo Ball, who conveniently is 6 ft 7 inches in height, posted a video with this song as the background.

From there, the hand gesture that accompanies the term “67” was used in a series of sports celebrations, being propelled by social media.

All of a sudden, children and teenagers across the country were shouting “67” and it was clear from the 39,000 monthly searches for the term that parents were wondering what it meant.  

Second place was well behind “67” in monthly searches; the term “maxxing” was searched an average of 16,100 times a month by Irish people.

The saying itself means to maximise or to go all in on something, but was later pushed out to birth a full subsection of other words like fibre maxxing.

This means to go all in and consume as much fibre as possible.

The term “mogging” was in third place, which means to outclass someone by appearing more skillful or attractive than another person.

A lot of these terms are used by teenagers and children, which are popularised through various social networks applications but their use on TikTok is huge.

Dr Sandrine Peraldi, Assistant Professor at University College Dublin, said social media networks have a strong influence on what terms are used.

Dr Peraldi also pointed out that nowadays a slang word is much quicker to take off and enter the mainstream.

“It can be events that are going to push the word forward, and people are going to use it as part of daily life,” she said.

She cited how during the 2024 Olympics in Paris, locals came up with a series of new words to deal with the changes in daily life.

Dr Stephen Lucek, Assistant Professor in Linguistics at UCD, explained how language is constantly evolving in today’s age.

“The books we read don’t change how we use language, but face-to-face interaction does. But now face-to-face interaction isn’t just the people you meet in real life but also virtual spaces,” he said.

Some of the remaining top 10 included the word “unc”, which is short for uncle but has the meaning of someone who is out of touch or past their prime.

In 2023, Oxford’s word of the year was “rizz”, but apparently people are still searching for and using it, as it was searched for an average of 12,500 times a month on Google. The term is short for charisma.

“Generally speaking, younger people are typically the innovators; language is always changing, but we get new ideas from people experimenting with other aspects of their lives,” Dr Lucek said.

Mr Sallihal added: “Today, new slang terms can spread like wildfire around the world thanks to big online communities on social media like TikTok, Instagram, gaming chats, streaming, and so on.

“The popularity of trending slang words can change quickly, but the psychological need behind them stays the same. People want to understand one another and belong.”

Ireland’s complete top 10 most searched slang terms of 2026 (so far)

Dr Lucek added: “It’s hard to identify a change in language until it happens. You can’t predict what word will be popular but can look back at what is popular.”

67. (39,400 average monthly searches)

Maxxing (16,100 average monthly searches)

Mogging (14,800 average monthly searches)

Gooning (14,200 average monthly searches)

Rizz (12,500 average monthly searches)

Huzz (12,300 average monthly searches)

Unc (10,200 average monthly searches)

Cap, No Cap (9,400 average monthly searches)

Melt (9,300 average monthly searches)

Foid (9,200 average monthly searches)