fire

What it means

In Gen-Z slang, "fire" describes something excellent, exciting, or impressively good. It works for basically anything you love — music, food, an outfit, a take — often intensified as "straight fire" or "absolute fire."

Words like “fire” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.

Examples

• That new album is straight fire, I've had it on repeat all day.
• Bro the tacos at that spot are fire, we have to go back.
• Your fit is fire today, where'd you get those boots?
• Not gonna lie, his verse on that track was fire.

Where it comes from

Rooted in AAVE and hip-hop culture, where 'fire' has long described top-tier music and bars. It went fully mainstream on social media through the 2010s and remains a staple compliment.

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