textspeak

English

Etymology

From text +‎ speak.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛkst.spik/

Noun

textspeak (uncountable)

1. (informal) The abbreviated, simplified form of language used in text messages, which often elides vowels and omits punctuation and capitalisation.

   Synonym: textese

   • 2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen’s English Society says enuf is enough, innit?: Society formed 40 years ago to protect language against poor spelling and grammar closes because too few people care”, in The Guardian‎^[1], London, archived from the original on 10 March 2016:

     For 40 years the society has championed good English – and hasn't been above the occasional criticism of the Queen's own standards of English – but it has finally conceded it cannot survive in the era of textspeak and Twitter.

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of textspeak
• SMS