What it means
A brutal way to say someone’s proper ugly, or that something’s rank, manky, and hard to look at without feeling ill. You’ll hear it in laddish chat and schoolyard-level roasting, especially when someone’s being cruel for sport. Had a big early-2000s peak, but it still gets used. It’s not banter if the other person isn’t laughing.
Usage examples
"Mate, that curry’s been in the fridge since payday. I cracked the lid and nearly gagged. Absolute minger, bin it before it mutates."
"Calling someone a minger at the school gate is rough talk and the head of year takes it seriously now, so the rumour around the form room is that two year tens lost their break for the rest of the half term over it."
"My older cousin reminisces about the noughties as the great era of minger banter on the playground, but he admits in hindsight it was mostly just nasty fashion, hair products and a profound shortage of empathy in the schoolyard."
"You were gonna wear that crusty vest on a night out? Nah, bin that minger and start again."
"He called her a minger in front of everyone and the whole vibe went sour proper quick."
Voice comments
No one has left their voice yet. Break the ice.
Where it comes from
It comes from British slang around ming and minging, words used in Scots and northern English for something foul-smelling, nasty, or grim. Minger took off across the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then got a huge boost after Big Brother pushed it into mainstream telly chat.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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