How 'mogging' went from toxic term to mainstream

"Mogging" has seen its usage soar over the past year, with the Gen Z slang term being named Collins English Dictionary's word of the year.Finding its origins in the online language of the manosphere, an online community built around hyper-masculine and often misogynistic content, the term broke out into the mainstream this year, being used by celebrities and the media.The word is defined by Collins as being used playfully to mean "the act of outshining or outperforming someone or something" and is now widely employed in online discourse about celebrity culture, with signs it is making its way into everyday vocabulary."I heard someone the other day say they were 'walk-mogged' - basically just someone else in the street about their age walking faster than them," says Tony Thorne, a language consultant at King's College London.The term has grown in usage through its association with "looksmaxxing" influencer Clavicular, who regularly posts clips of himself attempting to "mog" people in public spaces.The word reached a wider audience when posts describing the controversial streamer as having been "brutally frame mogged" went viral earlier this year.But "mogging" may be a lot older than its recent surge might suggest.Thorne explains that the term - often traced back to the acronym AMOG, or Alpha Male of the Group - was originally used in the 2010s on bodybuilding and incel (involuntary celibate) message boards, before being co-opted by a younger, broader audience."They started to diffuse it," he says."It was a toxic term about extreme competitiveness, the urge to dominate. People then started to use it ironically and teasingly."In a nod to its origins, Hollywood royalty and seven-time Mr Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, posted footage of himself in his bodybuilding heyday earlier this year, along with the ironic caption "someone just tried to explain this new trend 'frame mogging' to me...", external.Slang terms breaking out of the community that coins them isn't unprecedented."It's becoming more like the drag queen slang that was also used until recently - 'it was lit', 'she slays', 'he's a king', 'she's a queen'. It's become part of that more sort of silly, kind celebrity type banter," says Thorne.He believes that the term has now "largely been detoxified" as it mostly "retains that tinge of mockery or irony"."I can't speak for all the instances when it's used, but for young people I know who are using it today, there is not anything unhealthy about it anymore."Reflecting this softer and more mainstream meaning, British Vogue captioned their photo of Heated Rivalry actor Hudson Williams arriving at the 2026 Golden Globes as him "mogging at the Golden Globes". And in an interview earlier this year, figure skater Alysa Liu said her "main goal for this competition was to mog". At its heart, there still remains a competitive element to how the word is used to frame a situation."The language still retains this element of hyper-individual, competitive performance culture. It's still got that element," says Thorne. A recent online debate was sparked between fans comparing People magazine's choice for 2026's sexiest man alive, The Pitt actor Noah Wyle, with the 2025 winner, Wicked star Jonathan Bailey. Last year, fans of Zara Larsson and Tate McRae pitched the two singers against each other after the Swedish popstar opened for McRae on the North American leg of latter's Miss Possessive tour. Some fans viewed Larsson's performance as having "mogged" McRae, despite being a support act.Larsson later pushed back on the comparison, speaking about her respect for McRae during an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast. Another famous face that has been brought into the mogging debate is Cillian Murphy, with the Irish actor being compared favourably to his co-stars by some.