Netspeak
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An informal form of written language used on the Internet, characterized by abbreviations and emoticons. uncountable
"So, the point of this discussion is not just about the value of proofreading or the intrusion of netspeak—it's about the mistake of not understanding their impact on our ability to communicate with the customer."
Example
More examples"So, the point of this discussion is not just about the value of proofreading or the intrusion of netspeak—it's about the mistake of not understanding their impact on our ability to communicate with the customer."
Etymology
From net + -speak, coined by British linguist David Crystal in 2001 who originally wrote it capitalized as "Netspeak".
More for "netspeak"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.