What does ‘mogging' mean? Collins Dictionary names 2026 Word of the Year

Collins Dictionary on Tuesday named "mogging," a slang term for outshining or outperforming someone or something, its Word of the Year for 2026.

The British dictionary publisher said the term has increasingly entered mainstream language, particularly among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and is often used online in a playful or ironic way to describe someone being upstaged.

The word is believed to derive from "AMOG," an acronym for "alpha male of the group," and emerged around 2016 in bodybuilding culture to describe the most physically dominant man in a gym, according to Collins.

It later developed into a verb and spread through online communities before taking on a broader meaning.

Someone might now be described as "mogging" another person by looking better, performing better or otherwise making them appear inferior by comparison.

Collins, which tracks changes in English through large databases of written and spoken language, also included terms such as "carspreading," "firewave," "ghost job," "friendslop" and "P(doom)" on its 2026 shortlist.