Cheugy

2013Slang / aesthetic labelsemi-active

Also known as: Cheug · cheuginess · cheugery

Cheugy is a 2013-coined slang term for millennial aesthetics and fashion perceived as outdated or trying too hard, which went viral on TikTok in 2021.

Cheugy (pronounced "chew-gee") is a slang term coined in 2013 to describe people and aesthetics that are slightly out of date or trying too hard to be trendy. The word went viral on TikTok in March 2021 before being picked up by The New York Times, sparking widespread debate about generational taste, millennial culture, and whether the term was just another way to police women's choices. The American Dialect Society voted it the informal word of the year for 20214.

slang memesgenerational memesfashion aesthetic memestiktok memesword of the year memes

Overview

Cheugy describes an aesthetic and behavioral style that sits in an awkward middle ground. It's not ugly enough to be tacky, not old enough to be vintage, and not generic enough to just be "basic." The word targets things that were trendy in the early-to-mid 2010s but haven't aged well: think "Live, Laugh, Love" signs, Rae Dunn pottery, chevron patterns, girlboss slogans, Golden Goose sneakers, and Instagram captions quoting Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande3. People who exhibit cheugy traits are called "cheugs."

The aesthetic skews toward a specific kind of conformity. As one explainer put it, cheugy is "basic in a way that is void of personality or individualistic style"2. It's not about being cheap either. Luxury products like Gucci logo belts can be cheugy. The common thread is following trends that peaked years ago without realizing they've passed1.

Gaby Rasson invented the word "cheugy" in 2013 when she was a 15-year-old student at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles1. She wanted a label for people who were slightly off-trend but couldn't find an existing word that fit, so she made one up4. The term spread among her classmates and followed them to their respective colleges, slowly building a small but devoted user base among young Angelenos1.

The first public documentation came on November 8, 2018, when an Urban Dictionary user called "CheugLife" posted a definition describing cheugy as "the opposite of trendy," applicable to "fashion, habits on social media, usage of slang" and more5. For the next two and a half years, the word stayed mostly underground.

Origin & Background

Platform
Beverly Hills High School (coined), TikTok (viral spread)
Key People
Gaby Rasson, Hallie Cain
Date
2013 (coined), 2021 (viral)

Gaby Rasson invented the word "cheugy" in 2013 when she was a 15-year-old student at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles. She wanted a label for people who were slightly off-trend but couldn't find an existing word that fit, so she made one up. The term spread among her classmates and followed them to their respective colleges, slowly building a small but devoted user base among young Angelenos.

The first public documentation came on November 8, 2018, when an Urban Dictionary user called "CheugLife" posted a definition describing cheugy as "the opposite of trendy," applicable to "fashion, habits on social media, usage of slang" and more. For the next two and a half years, the word stayed mostly underground.

How It Spread

On March 30, 2021, Hallie Cain, a 24-year-old copywriter in Los Angeles, posted a TikTok video that cracked the term wide open. Responding to other TikToks about "people who get married at 20" and "millennial girlboss energy," Cain told viewers: "The word, my friend, is 'cheugy'". She listed cheugy hallmarks including phrases on hats and t-shirts, Herbal Essences products, and generic Instagram captions.

The video picked up around 100,000 likes on TikTok and the hashtag #cheugy racked up over half a million views. By late April, blogs like InTheKnow and My Jawbreakers were writing explainers. Then on April 29, 2021, Taylor Lorenz published a feature in The New York Times that brought cheugy to a mainstream audience. Lorenz later told Vox it was "one of the most-read recent stories in the Styles section".

The Times piece set off a wave of discourse on Twitter. Users debated whether cheugy was useful, sexist, or just another round of intergenerational sniping. One user joked that "the word for this is 'Cishet'". Another called Lorenz's move of "unleashing a new teen slang word on the NY Times readership" the "most chaotic, destabilizing move". The Instagram account @cheuglife became a hub for examples of cheugery, posting near-daily content identifying cheugy products, outfits, and attitudes.

Commentator Sarah Manavis noted that "until last week, and certainly before Lorenz's article, few people would have heard of cheugy," describing the coverage as "the latest chapter in the 'war' between Gen-Z and millennials". Despite the TikTok video's decent numbers, Vox's Rebecca Jennings observed it was "Twitter viral, but not TikTok viral," and The New Statesman agreed it "hadn't really taken mainstream hold" on TikTok itself before the newspaper coverage.

Platforms

TikTokRedditTwitter

Timeline

2022-01-01

Meme still see steady use

2023-01-01

Cheugy reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Cheugy works as both an adjective and a cultural shorthand. You can call a person cheugy, call an object cheugy, or describe an entire vibe as cheugy. The key test: does this thing feel like it's clinging to a trend that peaked around 2012-2017 without any self-awareness?

Common cheugy targets include: - Sorority merchandise and Greek life aesthetics - "Girlboss" and "hustle culture" slogans - Rae Dunn pottery with single-word labels - Chevron patterns on anything - Quoting The Office as a personality trait - Pumpkin spice latte enthusiasm - Golden Goose pre-distressed sneakers - Gucci belts with oversized logo buckles - Instagram captions lifting Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande lyrics

Things widely considered un-cheugy: thrifting, making your own clothes, handmade goods, Levi's jeans, Birkenstocks, home decor not from Target. As Rasson herself explained, "looking good for yourself and not caring what other people think, that confidence exudes non-cheugyness".

The term is meant to be lighthearted. You can self-identify as a cheug. Some people wear it as a badge of honor rather than treating it as an insult.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The cheugy discourse tapped into a bigger conversation about generational identity and who gets to define taste. The term was widely covered across major outlets including The New York Times, Vox, Rolling Stone, The Cut, Vice, Refinery29, and The New Statesman.

A significant thread of criticism focused on gender. Since many cheugy examples targeted things associated with women (sorority gear, Rae Dunn mugs, girlboss culture), some commentators argued the term was thinly veiled misogyny. CNET acknowledged the concern but pointed out that cargo shorts and Axe Body Spray were equally cheugy. Rolling Stone pushed back more directly, writing that "misogyny is insidious and takes many forms in our culture, but making fun of someone for posting Minion memes is not one of them".

Class politics also entered the picture. Refinery29 reported that "for every person that proudly calls themself a 'cheug', there is someone who cries misogyny or classism". The My Jawbreakers explainer noted that the cheugy demographic "is predominantly white, with eyes again on the middle-class looking for influence from those who are wealthy".

The generational angle proved most durable. Vice framed it as part of the Gen Z-millennial conflict, while The Cut observed that "much of the Cheugy Discourse is people just trying to suss out what is and isn't cheugy. The rest appears to be millennials having an existential crisis". Inside Hook reported that many zoomers were actually unfamiliar with the term before mainstream media picked it up and saw its popularity as "millennial on millennial violence".

The American Dialect Society voted cheugy its informal word of the year for 2021, and it was a runner-up for Collins Dictionary's word of the year (losing to "NFT").

Fun Facts

Gaby Rasson said one of her friends declared that lasagna is cheugy.

The word has no clear etymology. Rasson didn't base it on any existing word; she just made up a sound that felt right.

Taylor Lorenz told Vox that the definition of cheugy was "highly subjective and changing quickly" but that Instagram was the "pinnacle of cheugy".

Manavis argued that the real function of the Gen Z vs. millennial "war" coverage was to "distract us from the very real generational inequality that exists between both of them and baby boomers".

Despite being framed as a Gen Z attack on millennials, many Gen Z users told Inside Hook they'd never heard the word before it hit Twitter and newspapers.

Derivatives & Variations

Cheugy Variations

Different takes on the Cheugy format with modified content

(2021)

Cheugy Mashups

Combinations of Cheugy with other popular memes

(2022)

Cheugy Remixes

Updated versions with current events and references

(2022)

Frequently Asked Questions

Cheugy

2013Slang / aesthetic labelsemi-active

Also known as: Cheug · cheuginess · cheugery

Cheugy is a 2013-coined slang term for millennial aesthetics and fashion perceived as outdated or trying too hard, which went viral on TikTok in 2021.

Cheugy (pronounced "chew-gee") is a slang term coined in 2013 to describe people and aesthetics that are slightly out of date or trying too hard to be trendy. The word went viral on TikTok in March 2021 before being picked up by The New York Times, sparking widespread debate about generational taste, millennial culture, and whether the term was just another way to police women's choices. The American Dialect Society voted it the informal word of the year for 2021.

slang memes generational memes fashion aesthetic memes tiktok memes word of the year memes

Overview

Cheugy describes an aesthetic and behavioral style that sits in an awkward middle ground. It's not ugly enough to be tacky, not old enough to be vintage, and not generic enough to just be "basic." The word targets things that were trendy in the early-to-mid 2010s but haven't aged well: think "Live, Laugh, Love" signs, Rae Dunn pottery, chevron patterns, girlboss slogans, Golden Goose sneakers, and Instagram captions quoting Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande. People who exhibit cheugy traits are called "cheugs."

The aesthetic skews toward a specific kind of conformity. As one explainer put it, cheugy is "basic in a way that is void of personality or individualistic style". It's not about being cheap either. Luxury products like Gucci logo belts can be cheugy. The common thread is following trends that peaked years ago without realizing they've passed.

Gaby Rasson invented the word "cheugy" in 2013 when she was a 15-year-old student at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles. She wanted a label for people who were slightly off-trend but couldn't find an existing word that fit, so she made one up. The term spread among her classmates and followed them to their respective colleges, slowly building a small but devoted user base among young Angelenos.

The first public documentation came on November 8, 2018, when an Urban Dictionary user called "CheugLife" posted a definition describing cheugy as "the opposite of trendy," applicable to "fashion, habits on social media, usage of slang" and more. For the next two and a half years, the word stayed mostly underground.

Origin & Background

Platform
Beverly Hills High School (coined), TikTok (viral spread)
Key People
Gaby Rasson, Hallie Cain
Date
2013 (coined), 2021 (viral)

Gaby Rasson invented the word "cheugy" in 2013 when she was a 15-year-old student at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles. She wanted a label for people who were slightly off-trend but couldn't find an existing word that fit, so she made one up. The term spread among her classmates and followed them to their respective colleges, slowly building a small but devoted user base among young Angelenos.

The first public documentation came on November 8, 2018, when an Urban Dictionary user called "CheugLife" posted a definition describing cheugy as "the opposite of trendy," applicable to "fashion, habits on social media, usage of slang" and more. For the next two and a half years, the word stayed mostly underground.

How It Spread

On March 30, 2021, Hallie Cain, a 24-year-old copywriter in Los Angeles, posted a TikTok video that cracked the term wide open. Responding to other TikToks about "people who get married at 20" and "millennial girlboss energy," Cain told viewers: "The word, my friend, is 'cheugy'". She listed cheugy hallmarks including phrases on hats and t-shirts, Herbal Essences products, and generic Instagram captions.

The video picked up around 100,000 likes on TikTok and the hashtag #cheugy racked up over half a million views. By late April, blogs like InTheKnow and My Jawbreakers were writing explainers. Then on April 29, 2021, Taylor Lorenz published a feature in The New York Times that brought cheugy to a mainstream audience. Lorenz later told Vox it was "one of the most-read recent stories in the Styles section".

The Times piece set off a wave of discourse on Twitter. Users debated whether cheugy was useful, sexist, or just another round of intergenerational sniping. One user joked that "the word for this is 'Cishet'". Another called Lorenz's move of "unleashing a new teen slang word on the NY Times readership" the "most chaotic, destabilizing move". The Instagram account @cheuglife became a hub for examples of cheugery, posting near-daily content identifying cheugy products, outfits, and attitudes.

Commentator Sarah Manavis noted that "until last week, and certainly before Lorenz's article, few people would have heard of cheugy," describing the coverage as "the latest chapter in the 'war' between Gen-Z and millennials". Despite the TikTok video's decent numbers, Vox's Rebecca Jennings observed it was "Twitter viral, but not TikTok viral," and The New Statesman agreed it "hadn't really taken mainstream hold" on TikTok itself before the newspaper coverage.

Platforms

TikTokRedditTwitter

Timeline

2022-01-01

Meme still see steady use

2023-01-01

Cheugy reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Cheugy works as both an adjective and a cultural shorthand. You can call a person cheugy, call an object cheugy, or describe an entire vibe as cheugy. The key test: does this thing feel like it's clinging to a trend that peaked around 2012-2017 without any self-awareness?

Common cheugy targets include: - Sorority merchandise and Greek life aesthetics - "Girlboss" and "hustle culture" slogans - Rae Dunn pottery with single-word labels - Chevron patterns on anything - Quoting The Office as a personality trait - Pumpkin spice latte enthusiasm - Golden Goose pre-distressed sneakers - Gucci belts with oversized logo buckles - Instagram captions lifting Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande lyrics

Things widely considered un-cheugy: thrifting, making your own clothes, handmade goods, Levi's jeans, Birkenstocks, home decor not from Target. As Rasson herself explained, "looking good for yourself and not caring what other people think, that confidence exudes non-cheugyness".

The term is meant to be lighthearted. You can self-identify as a cheug. Some people wear it as a badge of honor rather than treating it as an insult.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The cheugy discourse tapped into a bigger conversation about generational identity and who gets to define taste. The term was widely covered across major outlets including The New York Times, Vox, Rolling Stone, The Cut, Vice, Refinery29, and The New Statesman.

A significant thread of criticism focused on gender. Since many cheugy examples targeted things associated with women (sorority gear, Rae Dunn mugs, girlboss culture), some commentators argued the term was thinly veiled misogyny. CNET acknowledged the concern but pointed out that cargo shorts and Axe Body Spray were equally cheugy. Rolling Stone pushed back more directly, writing that "misogyny is insidious and takes many forms in our culture, but making fun of someone for posting Minion memes is not one of them".

Class politics also entered the picture. Refinery29 reported that "for every person that proudly calls themself a 'cheug', there is someone who cries misogyny or classism". The My Jawbreakers explainer noted that the cheugy demographic "is predominantly white, with eyes again on the middle-class looking for influence from those who are wealthy".

The generational angle proved most durable. Vice framed it as part of the Gen Z-millennial conflict, while The Cut observed that "much of the Cheugy Discourse is people just trying to suss out what is and isn't cheugy. The rest appears to be millennials having an existential crisis". Inside Hook reported that many zoomers were actually unfamiliar with the term before mainstream media picked it up and saw its popularity as "millennial on millennial violence".

The American Dialect Society voted cheugy its informal word of the year for 2021, and it was a runner-up for Collins Dictionary's word of the year (losing to "NFT").

Fun Facts

Gaby Rasson said one of her friends declared that lasagna is cheugy.

The word has no clear etymology. Rasson didn't base it on any existing word; she just made up a sound that felt right.

Taylor Lorenz told Vox that the definition of cheugy was "highly subjective and changing quickly" but that Instagram was the "pinnacle of cheugy".

Manavis argued that the real function of the Gen Z vs. millennial "war" coverage was to "distract us from the very real generational inequality that exists between both of them and baby boomers".

Despite being framed as a Gen Z attack on millennials, many Gen Z users told Inside Hook they'd never heard the word before it hit Twitter and newspapers.

Derivatives & Variations

Cheugy Variations

Different takes on the Cheugy format with modified content

(2021)

Cheugy Mashups

Combinations of Cheugy with other popular memes

(2022)

Cheugy Remixes

Updated versions with current events and references

(2022)

Frequently Asked Questions