From toxic to teasing: What does ‘mogging’ actually mean?
Source: Collins Dictionary
“Mogging”, the Collins Dictionary’s 2026 word of the year, has left many people scratching their heads.
Does it have something to do with cats? Or robbing someone?
The answer, as gen Zers and alphas probably know, is neither of the above.
“Mogging … is defined as outperforming or outshining someone or something else, which might involve making them look inferior in terms of appearance, confidence or status – anything, really,” explains Rachel Quin in a blog post on the Collins website.
The dictionary says use of the term has increased 210 per cent in the past year.
This led to it beating other 2026 shortlisted words such as carspreading (the trend for manufacturers to build longer, wider and heavier vehicles), bixie (a haircut shorter than a bob but longer than a pixie cut), ghost job (a job advertised without any intention to appoint someone) and fricy (a food both fruity and spicy).
But mogging has a more disturbing origin story than most words on the Collins list.
It is said to be a shortening of AMOG – an acronym meaning “Alpha Male Of The Group” – which appeared in bodybuilding culture around 2016 and was then turned into a verb by those in toxic manosphere and misogynistic “incel” (involuntarily celibate) communities.
“Looksmaxxing” influencers promoting extreme and unscientific measures for young men to alter their looks and therefore increase their perceived sexual attractiveness are known for “mogging” those they view as physically inferior.
One of the online community’s most high-profile and controversial figures, Braden Peters (AKA Clavicular) – who last month faced court accused of rape – has regularly posted videos of himself mogging (showing up) men he believes are less masculine.
Peters went viral earlier this year after he was said to have been “brutally frame-mogged” himself when he was pictured alongside a much buffer university fraternity leader.
(Incidentally, “maxxing” was selected as Dictionary.com’s 2026 word of the year.)
While there has been concern over the impact of trends such as looksmaxxing and mogging on young people, at some point the latter term has gone mainstream. Now, mogging is increasingly being used as a more gently teasing slang term among members of the younger generations.
“Teenagers mog elite athletes, a new video game mogs an old favourite, and your friend’s sourdough mogs the loaf you spent all weekend proving,” Quin writes.
“Basically, if someone or something has made you look a bit rubbish by comparison, you’ve been mogged. Thankfully, it’s mostly used with tongue firmly in cheek these days.”
Social media users have offered their own examples.
“You turn up with an instant coffee. Your colleague arrives with a barista-made masterpiece from an artisan coffee shop. You’ve been mogged,” wrote one person on LinkedIn.
“You proudly show your holiday snaps. Your friend casually drops photos from a private villa overlooking crystal-clear waters and sunsets that don’t even look real. You’ve definitely been mogged.”
A British Vogue photo caption recently described Canadian actor Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry, Yaga) as mogging at the 2026 Golden Globes, while American figure skater Alysa Liu was quoted earlier this year as saying her main goal for the Winter Olympics competition was “to mog”.
Hollywood star and former California governor and professional bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger shared an old clip of himself flexing his muscles on X with the caption “someone just tried to explain this new trend ‘frame mogging’ to me…”.
Someone just tried to explain this new trend “frame-mogging” to me… https://t.co/w8iNGn5mSi
— Arnold Schwarzenegger (@Schwarzenegger) March 5, 2026
Online comments referred to British TV presenter Maya Jama mogging with her impressive performance and gameplay during the recent series of Celebrity Traitors UK, according to the BBC.
“When it’s used in this gushing celebrity context, it’s a bit like using ‘slay’ – ‘she’s a queen, she slays’,” London-based language consultant Tony Thorne told the broadcaster, explaining how the term has become diffused and is now used to refer to someone excelling in many different ways.
“I think there are all sorts of opportunities – style-mogging, height-mogging, car-mogging. You can apply [mogging] to almost anything now.”
The Collins Dictionary’s managing director, Alex Beecroft, said mogging’s selection as 2026 word of the year showed how each generation left its mark on language.
“It’s a great example of how gen Z and gen alpha have adopted a word and turned it into humorous slang, making the language their own and ‘mogging’ the rest of us,” Beecroft said.
