Entry · catalog no. 1228
slay
/ /sleɪ/ /SLAY
verb · New York ballroom / nationwide · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
To perform or present so well you leave no competition standing; to be devastatingly good at whatever you came to do.
“She walked that category and slayed — tens across the board.”
Origin & Attribution
Black and Latino ballroom culture of New York, 1970s and 80s, where slaying was the highest praise on the floor. Carried toward the mainstream by Paris Is Burning (1990), sent worldwide by Beyoncé's "Formation" (2016), and decades later mislabeled as Gen Z internet slang.
1990
Paris Is Burning documents ballroom language
2016
Beyoncé's Formation spreads the word worldwide
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New York ballroom / nationwide · 1980s
Spoken by
Black and Latino ballroom community; now general slang
$SLAYThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady46 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
85/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1980
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Paris Is Burning — documentary · 1990
submitted
■
+ Cite a sourceFormation, Beyoncé — recording · 2016
submitted
See also