For US viewers of Love Island UK, turning on the subtitles isn’t always helpful. Because some British slang hasn’t yet crossed the pond into the American English lexicon, viewers in the States may be in need of a companion guide and dictionary to really understand what the islanders are going on about.

  • Love Island’s latest season has already come to an end, but fans are gearing up for a new series next year. The show is going from strength to strength once more, with the UK iteration gaining plenty of international viewers, especially in the US. So as new viewers join in on the fun, these additional slag terms will help audiences understand what’s going on a little better.

Fortunately, across Love Island UK’s seven seasons, there are quite a few words and phrases that tend to make verbal appearances in almost every episode. They’re so prevalent that understanding these British slang terms is essential in any Love Island UK fan’s starter pack.

Fit

Usually, when someone is described as fit in the United States, it’s probably a comment on their physical fitness; how many hours they’ve spent in the gym and how healthy they were looking because of it. However, that’s not quite how it translates in the United Kingdom.

Fit is essentially a synonym for hot in the UK. It’s nothing to do with physical fitness, but everything to do with the look of a person. It’s not a gendered term either, with fit applying to anyone that an islander may have a physical attraction to. It’s one of the most popular phrases in the villa.

Peng

Sometimes it can be pretty cringy if an islander tries to get a slang term being used more often. Using the word ‘bev’ for example to describe someone as a beverage is one memorable failure. However, the term peng has really taken off, both inside and outside the villa.

Peng is yet another synonym for physical attraction, with multiple members of the villa described as being peng. It can also be used to describe something that is good and might be combined with the word ’ting,’ i.e. ‘peng ting’ to describe a good thing.

Bare

Bare is an unusual term, as unlike some other words like ‘peng’ it has a regular meaning used in every day life. But it can also be used alongside other phrases, as an adjective. For instance, it will often be used in the following context: “that was bare jokes.”

Bare can essentially be translated to being a lot, or very; if something is ‘bare jokes’ then it is very funny. But it can be used in the villa beyond that simple phrase. For instance, an islander might describe themselves as ‘bare hungry,’ implying they’re hoping someone will be cooking them a romantic meal soon.

Gaffer

Gaffer is a term that has largely been attributed to the football industry, but can also be applied to Love Island as well. The gaffer is the boss, someone who runs the show. In general, it’s thought to originate from the word godfather or governor.

In the context of Love Island, this UK slang has been used to name the head of the villa. Someone often steps into the role of gaffer naturally, running the show and ensuring that everyone on the island gets along. For the first season of Love Island, it was arguably John that filled that role.

Lush

Some of the funniest islanders from the previous season dipped into phrases from the regions that they originate from. Lush is quite a Welsh term, although it has been Love Island UK slang for a number of seasons. It’s always used in a positive manner.

It can be used in so many ways but is a synonym for good, or delicious. Someone could just as easily be talking about a dessert they’re eating as being lush, or perhaps be describing the latest bombshell to enter the villa. Either way, it’s quite a compliment.

Bird/Geezer​​​

The terms “girls” and “boys” aren’t as common in the villa because, of course, the U.K. islanders have their own way of referring to each other. Girls are often called birds, while boys are geezers or geez for short. However, not just anyone can call another man a geezer, but not because the phrase has negative connotation like it does in the States.

In fact, some of the best Love Island couples were actually made up of a couple of geezers, i.e., they were bromances. Geezer is commonly used as a term of endearment between friends.

Banter

On a show like Love Island where fit birds and geezers are a dime a dozen, banter is the hottest commodity in the villa. But what exactly is the Love Island UK slang known as “banter”? While banter can be enjoyable, witty conversation, the islanders typically refer to banter as the “playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks.”

Islanders either have banter or they don’t, and this can be the key difference between whether or not two contestants get flirty with each other.

Mugged Off

Being mugged off is a rite of passage on Love Island, but being labeled as muggy is the ultimate sin. The phrase “mugged off” is similar to what Americans describe as being played. More broadly, when an islander has been mugged off, it usually means they’ve been deceived and disrespected in one go.

Most islanders feel mugged off when a presumed friend chats up someone they’re interested in. This disloyal friend is then deemed muggy, and their reputation almost never recovers.

Crack On

The goal of every islander to have ever walked into the villa is to crack on with another islander. The most compatible couples on Love Island are usually those who have cracked on really well, meaning they’ve developed quite a romantic relationship.

The whole point of the show is to crack on with someone. If an islander is not cracking on, they’re cracking out of the villa — which isn’t a phrase yet, but it does kind of sound like something someone would say in a confessional.

Pied Off

Every islander’s worst nightmare is to be pied off on national telly, making it so that everyone from their nan to their boss just witnessed their shame. If an islander has been pied off, that means they’ve been unceremoniously dumped.

For example, season 2’s Malin pied off Rykard when Terry walked into the villa. Then Terry, in an extremely muggy move, pied off Malin without telling her he was pieing her off when he got together with Emma. With all this Love Island UK slang, some viewers might need a dictionary!

Grafting

Those lacking an immediate connection with another islander will usually have to graft. After all, if an islander is not putting in the work to find love in the villa, then they won’t make it long on Love Island. Grafting, therefore, is essential to the show.

Simply put, grafting means an islander is working hard at getting another person to like them, whether that’s through good banter or any other trick the islander has up their sleeve.

Put It On

The phrase “put it on” is commonly heard in confessionals or chats between close friends. Usually, an islander will announce they need to put it on so-and-so as a way of grafting and, ultimately, cracking on with them. “Putting it on” is essentially flirting.

Each season, almost every islander in the villa puts it on someone else in order to find love. Whether they succeed isn’t always guaranteed, but win or lose, their efforts are usually entertaining for viewers.

Gutted

“Gutted” has almost the same meaning in the U.S. as it does in the U.K. However, contestants on Love Island U.K. tend to use the word more often than their American counterparts. When an islander is gutted, they are emotionally devastated, usually because the person they were seeing has cracked on with someone else.

The opposite of gutted is “buzzing,” which loosely translates to mean extremely excited or thrilled. On Love Island, contestants are either gutted or buzzing. There is no in-between in this Love Island UK slang.

The Ick

Season 3’s Olivia, one of the most popular Love Island contestants, coined quite a few phrases during her run on the show. While she isn’t the mastermind behind “the ick,” most fans still associate this slang phrase with Olivia after she developed the ick with Sam. More recently, Season 6’s Leanne cited the ick as the reason why she broke up with Mike.

Simply put, “the ick” occurs when someone becomes cringed out by the person they’re seeing, making it difficult to continue dating them.

Melt

See also: absolute melt, tuna melt, and ham-and-cheese melt. Though the word can be delicious-sounding, being called a melt is actually pretty insulting. If Love Island U.K. viewers hear one islander refer to another islander as a melt, they basically called the other person an idiot.

When something is melted, it’s gone soft. Similarly, Love Island melts are called such because they’ve gone soft over a person they want to graft and are acting idiotic as a result.