Lit

Lit has many meanings.  The literal definition is to illuminate or catch on fire.  Lit can also be the abbreviation of literature.  However, today I want to focus on the newest form of lit: something that is exciting or excellent.

Example:  This party is lit!

This slang meaning of lit dates back to 2004, with Urban Dictionary entries dating back to 2009.  Rap is credited with the proliferation of this meaning of lit.  In particular, Travis Scott is credited with lit’s popularity.  There was a sharp spike in usage starting in 2014.  I noticed my friend using lit a lot on our road trip today.

Another slang meaning of lit predates “exciting / excellent”.  As a matter of fact, the current definition may have come from it.  Since the 1910s, lit has meant intoxicated (usually drunk, sometimes drugged).  It is a shortened form of lit up.  This usage comes from color of someone’s face when they are drunk.  Their face may get red which may appear as illuminated.  There is even a term to describe this phenomenon in Eastern countries, Asian flush.  Over time, the drunkenness meaning evolved to talk about a party.  Parties where people are lit up are often exciting.  This might be where our current slang definition of lit comes from.

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Reference:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/lit
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/lit-meaning-origin
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lit&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-17/where-the-slang-term-lit-came-from-and-how-big-brands-ruined-it/9335556