''Gyatt'' () (also commonly spelled as ''gyat'') is a term from

African-American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voc ...

originally used in exclamation, such as "'' gyatt damn''". In the 2020s, the word experienced a

semantic shift Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift) is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from t ...

and gained the additional meaning of "a person, usually a

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

, with large and attractive

buttocks The buttocks (: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed of a lay ...

and sometimes an

hourglass figure The hourglass figure is one of the four traditional female body shapes described by the fashion industry; the other shapes are the rectangle, inverted triangle, and spoon (or pear). The hourglass shape is defined by a woman's body measurements – ...

". With slightly varying definitions, ''gyatt'' garnered virality on the social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in 2022 in part due to its frequent use by various

online streamer An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could upl ...

s. It has become an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

, particularly employed and popularized by

Generation Alpha Generation Alpha (often shortened to Gen Alpha) is the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z. Generation Beta is the proposed name of the following generation. While researchers and popular media generally identify the early 2010s as the ...

Etymology

According to American linguist

John McWhorter John Hamilton McWhorter V (; born October 6, 1965) is an American linguist. He is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University, where he also teaches American studies and music history. He has authored a number of books on race ...

, the term "evolved from 'goddamn'." Kelly Elizabeth Wright, a research fellow in language sciences at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, claims that the

provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...

of ''gyatt'' is thought to be Black Southern, Jamaican, among other communities of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

. The term is attributed to having roots of

2022 semantic shift

The current meaning of the term ''gyatt'' was coined by online streamer YourRAGE, who used it to describe a

physically attractive Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing or beauty, beautiful. The term often implies sexual attraction, sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be d ...

woman, and it was popularized by

Kai Cenat Kai Carlo Cenat III ( ; born December 16, 2001) is an American online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality who specializes in comedic live streams and videos. As of 2025, he is the second most-followed Twitch streamer with 17.6 mill ...

, an American

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

streamer. On October 2, 2023, a TikTok account under the username @ovp.9 posted a

short video Short-form content (also known as short-form videos) are short videos, often from movies or entertainment videos, that are published on platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and others. Short-form content has become popular among young people, ...

of a character from the online video game

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...

"singing" to a

musical parody Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or performer, or even a general style of music. In music, parody has been us ...

of the 2021 song "ecstacy" by Suicidal-Idol. The parody featured multiple

internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

terms, including ''

Skibidi Toilet ''Skibidi Toilet'' (pronounced , ) is a machinima web series created by Alexey Gerasimov and released through YouTube videos and YouTube Shorts, Shorts on his channel, '. Produced using Source Filmmaker, the series follows a war between to ...

'' and ''

rizz ''Rizz'' () is an internet slang word defined as style, charm, or attractiveness. It is likely short for ''charisma,'' and is often associated with brain rot. Background The phrase was popularized by American YouTuber and Twitch stream ...

''. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', the parody is cited as "a key" to the popularization of ''gyatt''.

Backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

s have been created for the term like "Girl Your Ass sThick", "Girl You Ate That", "Get Your Act Together", among others.

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. ''Gyatt'' is characterized in the media as a term used both by

and

Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...

. However, some members of Generation Z have stated that they do not attribute the term to their cohort. According to ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'', the term is used verbally and on messaging platforms such as Discord, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, and YouTube.

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. The term was nominated for the

American Dialect Society The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society p ...

's ''2023 Word of The Year''.

References

External links