40 Teen Text Terms Decoded for Confused Parents

To help you in your quest to decode your teens’ space-constrained text babble, we’ve compiled a list of popular terms and abbreviations. Don’t be surprised if you see variations when it comes to capitalisation or style; it’s common for some teens to prefer all caps to lowercase or even changing capitalisation, whether at the beginning or middle of a message.

These 40 terms are among the most popular, but know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

1. LOL: Laughing Out Loud

2. BRB: Be Right Back

3. TY: Thank You

4. ASL: Age Sex Location

5. HBD: Happy Birthday

6. 4EAE: ForEver And Ever

7. H&K: Hugs and Kisses

8. HAND: Have a Nice Day

9. HAY: How Are You?

10. 143: I love you

11. ATM: At the moment

12. BFN: Bye for now

13. BOL: Be on later

14. BRB: Be right back

15. FWB: Friends with benefits

16. ILY / ILU: I love you

17. OMG: Oh my God

18. ROFL: Rolling on the floor laughing

19. SWAK: Sealed with a kiss

20. SWYP: So, what’s your problem?

21. TIA: Thanks in advance

22. TIME: Tears in my eyes

23. TTYL: Talk to you later

24. WTPA: Where the party at?

25. WYCM: Will you call me?

26. YW: You’re welcome

27. TY or TU Thank you

28. VSF Very sad face

29. WB: Welcome back

30. LMAO: Laughing My Ass Out

31. BF / GF: Boyfriend / Girlfriend

32. FYEO: For your eyes only

33. GLHF: Good luck, have fun

34. IDK: I don’t know

35. J/K: Just kidding

36. PAW: Parents are watching

37. PTB: Please text back

38. SMH: Shaking my head

39. WYCM: Will you call me?

40. PANW: Parents are not watching

If you have some abbreviations to share please do so in the comments.