Meaning
Mediocre; noticeably below the hype, as in 'that sequel was mid'. Informal dismissive slang, most at home on TikTok and X, and insulting when applied to a person or their work. Separate older senses exist, such as mid-grade cannabis and the middle lane in multiplayer games. Casual and often cutting; fine in banter, risky in formal or work settings. Regional use: General English online; strongest on TikTok, X, and in music and gaming talk.
Origin
The word started as drug slang: 'mid' or 'mids', short for mid-grade marijuana of middling potency, documented in Urban Dictionary as early as 2004. From about 2019 Twitter users applied it to mediocre albums and films, and 2021 made it mainstream: viral tweets in September 2021 calling Drake's album Certified Lover Boy mid spread the insult, and a 23 September 2021 TikTok clip of wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman declaring 'it's called the Midwest because every single thing in it is mid' set off a wave of jokes listing mediocre things. Dictionary.com documents the early-2000s cannabis sense and the early-2020s TikTok surge; Know Your Meme documents the wrestling clip and the meme family around it. The exact first use is unknown.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- it's mid
- mid-tier
- mids
Usage Examples
- Everyone hyped the new ramen place, but honestly the broth was mid.
- He called the finale mid and the replies turned into a two-hundred-comment argument.
- For a budget airline the legroom was mid, but the price was unbeatable.