Gen Alpha Slang, Decoded: Aura, Rizz, Sigma and the Rest

Most slang glossaries treat these words as unrelated. They are not. Almost all of the current vocabulary is describing one thing from different angles: how much presence a person has, and whether they had to try for it.

The core terms

Aura. A person's presence, charisma or vibe. Used as a compliment on its own, and as a unit of measurement when a number is attached. Full definition in our aura farming guide.

Aura points. The joke score. "+1,000 aura" for a cool moment, "-5,000" for an embarrassing one. Entirely invented in comment sections — read how they work.

Aura farming. Behaviour that produces aura moments, intentionally or otherwise. Compliment by default, accusation when the moment looks staged.

Aura maxxing. The long-term version: deliberately raising your baseline presence rather than catching one moment. See the aura maxxing guide.

Negative aura. Points lost through visible effort, over-explaining, or failing immediately after a confident setup. More here.

The adjacent vocabulary

Rizz. Charisma applied specifically to romantic or flirtatious situations. Rizz is directed at someone; aura works on a room. You can have aura with nobody in it.

Sigma. Originally a joke about self-sufficient loner archetypes, now largely ironic. Overlaps with aura in that both reward not needing approval.

Mogging. Outshining someone by simply being present next to them. Effectively a two-person aura comparison — the same question our aura battles ask, minus the vote.

Cooked. Beyond saving in the current situation. Frequently the punchline of a negative aura moment.

Glazing. Excessive praise. Notable because glazing someone can lower their aura: over-defence signals that the person needed defending.

NPC. Behaving without apparent independent thought. The functional opposite of having aura.

How they fit together

Sorted by scale: rizz is one interaction, aura farming is one moment, aura maxxing is a long project, and aura is the standing total. Everything else is either a way of gaining it (mogging) or losing it (cooked, glazing, NPC).

Where the scoreboard is

The whole vocabulary exists because there was never a real tally. The Aura 100 keeps one: every head-to-head vote moves an Elo-style score and builds the live aura ranking, and the Aura Radar tracks the moments shifting it.