Highlights
- 'Mogging' has been named Collins English Dictionary's word of the year after its usage surged over the past year.
- The slang term originated in online bodybuilding and incel communities before being adopted by Gen Z as a playful expression.
- Celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hudson Williams and Maya Jama have helped bring the word into mainstream pop culture.
'Mogging', a slang term that originated in online communities associated with toxic masculinity, has become a mainstream expression among Gen Z, with its popularity earning it recognition as Collins English Dictionary's word of the year.
The term is now commonly used online to describe someone outshining or outperforming another person. While it initially carried associations with extreme competitiveness and male dominance, younger internet users have increasingly adopted it in a more playful and ironic way.
Its growing popularity has also brought it into celebrity culture, with actors, musicians and sports personalities becoming part of conversations around the expression.
From toxic online communities to Gen Z slang
According to Collins, 'mogging' is used playfully to describe "the act of outshining or outperforming someone or something".
However, its origins are rooted in the online language of the manosphere, a network of internet communities known for hyper-masculine and often misogynistic content.
Language consultant Tony Thorne of King's College London explains that the term is often traced back to AMOG, an acronym for Alpha Male of the Group.
It was used during the 2010s on bodybuilding and incel (involuntary celibate) message boards, where it referred to establishing dominance over other men, particularly through physical appearance.
The word eventually reached a younger and wider audience, with its meaning becoming less serious and more teasing.
"They started to diffuse it," Thorne said.
"It was a toxic term about extreme competitiveness, the urge to dominate. People then started to use it ironically and teasingly."
The term's association with influencer Clavicular, who is known for his 'looksmaxxing' content, also helped increase its visibility. He regularly posts videos of himself attempting to 'mog' people in public spaces.
How celebrities brought 'mogging' into mainstream culture
The expression has increasingly appeared in celebrity conversations and social media commentary.
Hollywood actor and seven-time Mr Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the discussion earlier this year by sharing footage of himself during his bodybuilding days.
He jokingly captioned the post: "Someone just tried to explain this new trend 'frame mogging' to me..."
British Vogue also used the term when captioning a photograph of Heated Rivalry actor Hudson Williams at the 2026 Golden Globes, describing him as "mogging at the Golden Globes".
Meanwhile, Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu revealed in an interview that her "main goal for this competition was to mog".
The word has also featured in online comparisons between celebrities. Fans debated whether Zara Larsson had 'mogged' Tate McRae while performing as her support act during the North American leg of McRae's Miss Possessive tour.
Larsson later addressed the comparisons during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, expressing her respect for McRae.
Actor Cillian Murphy has also been brought into similar discussions, with some social media users comparing his appearance favourably with that of his Oppenheimer co-stars Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh.
More recently, Maya Jama became the subject of 'mogging' commentary during her appearance on Celebrity Traitors, including scenes showing her hanging out of a helicopter.
Thorne believes the word has largely shed its original negative associations among younger users, although its competitive undertone remains. He compares its current use to expressions such as 'slay' and 'queen', which have moved from specific communities into wider pop culture vocabulary.
However, he cautions that the idea of outperforming or dominating someone has not entirely disappeared from the term.
"The language still retains this element of hyper-individual, competitive performance culture. It's still got that element," he explained. Today, 'mogging' can describe much more than physical appearance or attractiveness. It can refer to someone outperforming another person through their style, height, confidence or even possessions.
As Thorne suggests, the term can now be applied to almost anything, reflecting how internet slang continues to evolve as it moves between online communities, celebrity culture and everyday conversation.
