On 3 November 2026, the British Collins Dictionary announced «mogging» as its Word of the Year. This youth slang term means to conspicuously outshine or outdo someone in terms of appearance, confidence, style or achievements. According to the dictionary’s compilers, the frequency of use of the term rose by 210% during 2026. This was reported on the official Collins website and by the Associated Press.
What does «moggling» mean, and why has the word become popular?
Mogging — this is a situation where one person stands out so much against the background of another that they effectively overshadow them. Most often, this refers to appearance, physical fitness, dress sense or self-confidence.
For example, if someone looks much more striking than the others in a group photo, social media users might say that they’ve «outshone» them.
However, the modern meaning of the word is not limited to physical appearance. It is also used when a new video game surpasses its predecessor, an athlete achieves exceptional results, or someone outperforms their competitors.
Nowadays, the term is mainly used in jest, sometimes as a compliment and sometimes with irony.
According to the director, Collins Alexa Bickroft, the choice of this word illustrates how younger generations are influencing the development of the English language.
He noted that Generation Z and Alfa turned the term into a humorous slang expression, giving it a new meaning.
Where does the word ‘mogging’ come from?
The term first came into use around 2016 in communities dedicated to bodybuilding and fitness.
It is thought to derive from the abbreviation AMOG — Alpha Male of the Group, which translates as «alpha male of the group».
Originally, this term was used to describe a man who was physically dominant over others, for example because of his height, muscles or athletic build.
The term subsequently spread across online forums and communities where people discussed male appearance and attractiveness.
It has become particularly popular amongst fans of luxmaximising (looksmaxxing) — an online trend whose followers aim to improve their appearance as much as possible through personal care, exercise and other practices.
Over time, the word spread beyond these communities. In TikTok, Instagram and on other social media platforms, people started using it to compare just about anything.
Which other words made it into the Collins ranking in 2026?
Every year, Collins Dictionary analyses changes in the English language and identifies the words that best reflect social trends.
To this end, experts use the Collins Corpus, which contains around 27 billion words from various sources, including social media.
In addition to mogging, the 2026 shortlist included:
- A ‘ghost job’ is a vacancy that an employer advertises without any real intention of hiring an employee.
- P(doom) — an estimate of the probability that artificial intelligence could cause a global catastrophe.
- Carspreading — the trend for cars to become increasingly larger and heavier.
- Friendslop — small, independent video games designed primarily for playing with friends.
- Fricy — a blend of fruity and spicy flavours in food and drink.
- A firewave is a series of fires occurring over a short period.
In 2025, Collins chose the word of the year vibe coding («vibecoding») — an approach to creating programmes using artificial intelligence and standard text instructions.
This year’s winner was a word that originated in a small online community and subsequently became part of young people’s everyday language. According to the editors of Collins, the popularity of ‘mogging’ shows just how quickly internet slang is changing modern English.
