Zoomer

American  

[zoom-er] / ˈzum ər /

noun

plural

Zoomers

1. a member of Gen Z.

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Explanation

A zoomer is someone who was born between 1997 and 2012, although date ranges vary. The formal term for the whole generation is Generation Z, but zoomer has become a popular shorthand for a person in this age group. Using letters to name generations started with Generation X. The term was used as a placeholder, and it stuck. Before that, generations were named after major historical events or cultural shifts. People in the generation before Gen X were called the Baby Boomers, as they were born during the post-WWII "baby boom." The term zoomer is a linguistic mashup of boomer and the Z from Gen Z. It began being used online as a joke, and it stuck, maybe because it reflects a generation that grew up in a fast-paced, digital world.

Example Sentences

Man, if my chest hair wasn’t going visibly gray and I was instead a lanky, chiseled Zoomer with a hit LP I might feel the same way about top buttons.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026

Eighty percent of Zoomer respondents reported feeling that young people were too dependent on technology, according to a 2023 Harris Poll survey.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025

Zoomer, for a member of GenZ, is also new.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 16, 2022

Directed by Halina Reijn, “Bodies” is an ensemble whodunit set in a McMansion in the woods that skewers Zoomer culture’s obsession with policing language even as its characters commit all manner of criminal acts.

From New York Times • Sep. 12, 2022

So says John Peter Zoomer, the original collector and contemporary of Rembrandt.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall