Fast forward to the s, the age of jazz, flappers, and some serious slang. But in black, Latinx, queer ball culture in the —80s, slay ing definitely came to refer to when an outfit, hair, makeup, dance moves, and attitude were all flawless. Slay spread in the intersectional worlds of gay culture, fashion, and the drag scene. She commanded her ladies to get in formation and slay.
The ladies of the world answered with another term originated by queer ball culture: Yas, queen! Slay had slain, crossing over into though some would say being appropriated by non-queer black and feminist spheres. In an interesting twist, slay queen has become slang for a vain, vapid , gold-digging woman in Kenya. Is slay the best slang word in English? Vote in the Dictionary. The metal band Slayer have been slaying their guitar since It can be used whenever a person looks self-confidently good, acts in a self-empowered way, or does or achieves something spectacular, especially in the face of some challenge.
That is, Do it! While the formal past tense of slay is slew … for real, the slang past tense tends to be slayed. As with a lot of contemporary slang rapidly popularized on social media, slay has been the inspiration of cultural products, from makeup like Slay All Day to books, like Constance C.
Slay has gone mainstream, but be mindful that it originated in black, queer culture, which may see insensitive or glib uses of the term as appropriative.
This is not meant to be a formal definition of slay like most terms we define on Dictionary. Examples Origin Usage. Slang dictionary slay [ sley ] October 18, What does slay mean? Slay, queen! Where does slay come from? Urban Dictionary. Meme Generator. Go bridezilla queen. Be difficult. Cheat queen cheat. SLAY kaifaaaaa omgggggg those looks and she takes hotness to another level! She is so fierce!!!! Because White concludes that at the heart of how we slay — whether wearing natural hair, sporting Kente cloth, choosing a baggier jean over a more fitted one, going makeup-free, or beating our faces within an inch of their lives — is authenticity.
