The Modern Dating Dictionary

Because dating in 2026 has its own lexicon.

- By KAYLA KIBBE

A decade after words like “ghosting” and “situationship” entered the chat, we're living in a golden age of internet dating lingo. Seemingly every day, a new term with a catchy name makes the TikTok rounds. Some of these viral expressions (“ghostlighting,” “zip coding”) cover new experiences unique to modern dating, while others (“monkey-barring,” “the avoidant discard”) are neologisms for phenomena that significantly predate Tinder.

Either way, this vocabulary serves an important societal function: It creates a shared language we can all use to talk about the sometimes joyful, often confusing, and frequently frustrating facets of looking for romantic connection. Sure, some of the terms may sound silly (like, how did “Shrekking” become meaningful to your love life?), but they also do the heavy lifting of defining relatable experiences that could otherwise feel isolating, especially if you're navigating them for the first time.

Ultimately, these words and phrases do what language has always done: give us the power to understand ourselves and bond with others. So here, for your edification, is a roundup of the ones you'll need to wade through this year’s dating discourse with ease.

Zip Coding (VERB)