basic

In slang, basic characterizes someone or something as unoriginal, unexceptional, and mainstream. A basic girl—or basic b*tch as she is often insulted—is said to like pumpkin spice lattes, UGG boots, and taking lots of selfies, for instance.

According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, basic emerges as slang for someone or something as being “unexciting, unexceptional, or uneventful” in the 1970s. This is an outgrowth of the negative sense of basic as “plain and simple”

The slang especially stuck to women. In their 1984 song “Meeting in the Ladies Room,” the R&B girl group Klymaxx call a woman basic for making moves on another’s boyfriend.

The 2000s saw the rise of the term basic b*tch, or a woman who is uninteresting and mainstream in her tastes, interests, style, or personality. Comedian Lil Duval had a 2009 video about the basic b*tch. The 2011 song “Gucci Gucci” by Kreayshawn features the hook: “And we stunting like / Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada / Basic b*tches wear that shit so I don’t even bother.”

Basic has since become associated with unlikeable, predictable, and ordinary things, especially associated with young white women.

While basic can describe anyone or anything considered disagreeably mainstream, it especially insults, as noted, young white women. As basic and basic b*tch spread in popular culture, some women aren’t oblivious to their supposed basic-ness but ironically embrace it.

i’m so basic. idc pic.twitter.com/8JJZEAr1I4

— | hannah rickard | (@rickardhannah) September 8, 2018

Has anyone seen my Gucci belt? I’m thinking of being more basic than usual tonight

— allie (@alleiigh) September 8, 2018

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.