Ano Daw?: 8 Filipino Slang Words You Need To Be Familiar With

Here’s a list to help you relate with online (and offline) conversations these days

“Forda goach sa Boracay ang ferson! Naol. Chariz!” 

There are two types of social media users: those who can understand the above statement and those who are often left confused and wondering upon encountering Filipino slang words.

If you belong with the first group, job well done! But if you team up with the second one, you definitely need to start keeping up with the online world.

Over the recent years, social media users, especially the “big brain” Gen Zs, have invented catchy and unique slang words that they incorporate into their online (and offline) conversations.

But this is not a new phenomenon at all. Looking back in our history, we remember the birth of “jejemon” words and the adaptation of the “conyo” or Taglish (Tagalog and English) form of speech.

This is because Filipinos are not only creative and quick-witted, but also mostly bilingual (speaks two languages), if not multilingual (speaks four or more languages), owing to the fact that the Philippines is home to 187 languages and 8 major dialects.

Also, a lot of us are fluent in writing and speaking the English language because it is formally taught at schools and universities, on top of having Filipino as our national language.

After all, language is arbitrary and continuously evolving. Combine this fact with the innovative minds of Filipinos, and it’s really no surprise that slang words will indeed come into life.

READ ALSO: Word Nerd: What Does “Bardagulan” Actually Mean And Where Did It Come From?

To get acquainted with some recently developed Filipino slang words commonly used in conversations, keep reading!

1. Charot or Chariz

This is perhaps the most widely known slang word from this list. “Charot”, particularly, has already been used by Filipinos for a few years now; while “Chariz” was only developed much later. Either way, both terms are an equivalent to “just kidding”, thus often used to indicate the speaker’s intent to say a joke or to make a statement sound less serious.

Example in a sentence: “Magre-resign na ako sa trabaho, charot.”

2. Forda

This term is rooted in the phrase “for the” which only has its literal meaning in the English language. Filipinos only transformed the phrase a bit to make it apt for usage in conversations within the local context. Often, it precedes an action word within a sentence.

Example in a sentence: “Forda reply ka naman sa message ko.” 

3. Ferson

The emergence of this term is quite similar to “Forda”. Instead of simply using the English word “person”, Filipinos replaced the first letter with “f” to make the pronunciation of the word more sassy.

Example in a sentence: “May bagong phone ang ferson!” 

4. Naol

This term is a shortened form of “sana all”—a popular phrase nowadays among young (and middle-aged) Filipinos which is meant to indicate one’s hopes or wishes to achieve for themselves what other people have.

Example in a sentence: “Naol may flowers sa Valentine’s Day.”

5. Goach

Unlike “naol” which is a shortened form, “goach” is a longer form of the English word “go”. The slang word was devised by social media users to simply signify greater enthusiasm during conversations.

Example in a sentence: “Goach na kayo sa pag-check out ngayong payday sale!”

6. Korique

This term is an improved version of the slang word “korek” which was derived from the English word “correct”. Similar to its English root word, it also means right, true, and free from error. The slang version only adds character to the sentence due to its different pronunciation.

Example in a sentence: “Korique ‘yung sinabi niya.”

7. Cure use 

This term was developed from the English word “curious” and also has the same meaning: being eager to know about something. Although the words “cure” and “use” have their own meanings as well, they are totally unrelated with what the slang word signifies.

Example in a sentence: “Masyado ka namang cure use sa love life niya.”

8. Frogs

This term is a proof of how creative and innovative Filipinos can be. It is derived from the Tagalog word “palakas”, but it also has its origins from “palaka”, another Tagalog word. In this sense, because “palaka” translates as “frog” in English, adding a letter s at the end of the word means that “frogs” may denote the meanings “get well soon” and “be stronger” which is also the meanings of “palakas”.

Example in a sentence: “May sakit ka raw sabi nila? Frogs!”

From this list, we see that recent Filipino slang words originated from English words and developed out of our own humor to fit local contexts—owing to our use of both Filipino and English language in our daily conversations.

Words Ria Javate
Banner Art Paulo Correa

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