The Meaning of “Lore” and How It’s Used in Gen Z Slang

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How telling a story about your life became “lore” on TikTok

Co-authored by Maryana Lucia Vestic, MFA, M.Phil. Reviewed by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Last Updated: August 10, 2025 Fact Checked

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Lore Meaning

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Using Lore in a Sentence

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Sharing Lore on Social Media

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Lore & Side Quest

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Origins

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Video

If you’re on TikTok, you may have noticed that people are regularly using the word “lore” when telling stories about their past. Keep reading to find more about what lore means and how to use it in a sentence. You’ll also discover the different kinds of lore you can share on social media and how “side quest” is sometimes used with “lore” in Gen Z slang.

What does “lore” mean in slang?

Folklore expert Chelsey Weber-Smith says "lore" is the backstory behind any topic or character. Everyone has their own personal lore, which might be meaningful events or memories that contribute to their identity. Once you know someone's lore, you understand them more completely. Even places or objects can have lore.

Section 1 of 5:

“Lore” Slang Meaning

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“Lore” is interesting information from a person’s past. “Lore” traditionally refers to background information on a fictional entity or universe, but it has recently evolved to mean the stories that define your identity. These stories are usually unexpected, random, or secret. For example, growing up as an only child wouldn’t necessarily be considered lore, but growing up as an only child on a tour bus because your parents were in a mid-90s pop trio would be.^{[1]
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- Lore can be used to talk about personal struggles that might feel awkward to express otherwise. These struggles include childhood memories, traumatic events, or unsettling circumstances.
- Growing up in a cult, being in a mental health facility, or having a parent who’s a criminal are all examples. When they’re presented as a fascinating part of someone’s narrative, difficult subjects become easier to share with others, especially on social media.
- Humor is often a big part of lore as well. You're essentially sharing your past as if it were part of an epic and complex personal history, similar to the lore in movie or video game franchises.
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Drama or gossip about other people also counts as "lore." Secondhand gossip that you might know about someone else can also be considered “lore.” For instance, if you’re talking about a teacher you have, you might share some lore about a controversial story you heard about them from older students. Here are a few more examples of this usage in conversation:^{[2]
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- Elisa’s so nice now! It’s hard to believe that being a mean girl in middle school is part of her lore.
- My girlfriend’s lore includes a string of exes who she drove to a life of crime.
- Part of my neighborhood’s lore is that the abandoned house at the end of the street is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a clown.
- It’s never been confirmed, but the lore on that pair of Hollywood besties is that they’ve secretly been a couple for decades.

Section 2 of 5:

How to Use Lore in a Sentence

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Use lore to refer to a unique backstory about a person. Whether you use the word lore to delve into your own history or say it to describe someone else’s, this slang term lets others know that you’re about to drop some seriously interesting tidbits. Here are some basic ways to use lore in a sentence:^{[3]
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- The fact that my lore is filled with more than one doomsday cult means I’m pretty over religion.
- This car model is the object of local lore, since over half of my graduating class drove one in high school!
- Her family lore included Madonna coming over for many Thanksgiving dinners—can you believe it?
- Jenny’s favorite lore about her time living in the city is how she saw the same naked people sunbathing on the roof every summer across the street for 5 straight years.
- My lore happens to include being the witness in a fraud trial on my sweet sixteen.
- Our dance group lore can’t be beat—we performed at a nursing home once, and one of the residents happened to be a former Rockette. She managed to get on stage and finish a number with us!
- Our sorority lore includes not one, but 3 haunted houses on campus where several different types of crazy people once lived.
- I’m perfectly willing to accept the lore that the Super Bowl went to the Kansas City Chiefs because of Taylor Swift's relationship with Travis Kelce, and I’m fine with that.
- Part of my fashion lore includes going from goth to preppy and back to goth in the course of one school year.

Section 3 of 5:

How to Share Lore on Social Media

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Whether they’re influencers or casual social media users, people on TikTok and other social media platforms have taken to dropping lore to better connect with their audiences. Dropping lore helps your friends get to get to know you a little bit better, and if your lore is particularly wild, it can even lead to an increase in your TikTok followers.
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Drop lore on any topic you’d like. You can share lore on social media that is all about family, work, friends, ex-relationships, video games, or even fashion. Get more context on specific ways to use lore ahead:^{[4]
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- My lore: Any background info or personal history that adds mystique to your online persona.
  - For example, Most people don’t know this, but being a member of a travelling circus is part of my lore.
- Funny lore: A way to use lore in a playful, quirky way to be lighthearted about background information.
  - My friend can eat a whole birthday cake in one sitting, which is part of their childhood lore.
- Ex lore: When you explain the details, history, and stories that surround a relationship you had with an ex for clarity or therapeutic purposes.
  - Part of my dating lore is that my last ex broke up with me and then stole my dog. On my literal birthday.
- Fashion lore: Any particular or embarrassing history you might have with a type of clothing or fashion accessory.
  - My fashion lore includes a love for 80s parachute pants in the early 2000s.
- Bop lore: A (promiscuous) sexual history, either real or created, about someone else. Using the term “bop lore” to describe someone else’s history is often considered problematic and similar to slut-shaming.
  - When they told me about how they worked at a strip club, I knew we were getting into some major bop lore.

Section 4 of 5:

How “Side Quest” is Used With “Lore”

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“Side quest” is any non-routine activity in someone’s life. In video games, “side quests” are extra tasks aside from the main goal of the game, and real-life side quests are pretty much the same thing. They’re random or spontaneous activities you do outside of your real normal daily tasks. Side quests are often used in tandem with lore in Gen Z slang because a unique or memorable side quest can often become a part of your lore. Here are some examples of how to use both “lore” and “side quest” in a sentence:
- My music festival lore now includes side quests like being asked to be a judge in the food tent.
- When the Hatha yoga class was full, I made goat yoga the side quest I never knew I needed. It’s now my favorite part of my personal fitness lore.
- Best side quest ever—I went to the parking lot to make a call, and ran into Paul Mescal. We chatted about how we both went to Trinity College Dublin for like 20 minutes, and now he’s part of my Irish lore.

Section 5 of 5:

Where does “lore” come from?

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Lore originally referred to any “body of knowledge or tradition that is passed down among members of a culture, usually orally.” Lore comes from the word folklore, which shares the same meaning. Lore was used to inform others about cultural or legendary figures, from Santa Claus to Lizzie Borden.^{[5]
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- Folklore was first used in 1846 by William J. Thoms; it comes from the Old English “folclar.”
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The modern use of lore started with fantasy literature and video games. It helped to provide the detailed storytelling necessary to explain certain created universes. Some early examples of lore can be found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Video games like Dark Souls or Elder Scrolls used fragments, clues, and vague dialogue to bring the lore behind the game’s world into being.^{[6]
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- Fans sometimes put these fragments of lore information into videos on YouTube called “lore videos,” which can be similar to writing fan fiction.
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Movie franchises and TV series then adopted the use of lore. They sometimes use these intricate backstories to broaden the narrative, but more often, they include lore as a marketing tool for film, series, and video game franchises. Some fans enjoy this extra information, while others think it takes away from the central narrative of the story.^{[7]
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Lore appeared as a slang term on TikTok in 2020. At the time, it was used as a way to express “character development.” In 2022, "lore" became less about fleshing out the worlds or characters in movies, comic books, or video games and more about sharing a user’s personal lore. People began sharing extraordinary, entertaining, or even embarrassing facts and stories about their lives to be more authentic on social media.
- Lore is a way for Gen Z social media creators and users to add narrative to their lives and, in a way, develop their own sense of self. Having interesting lore can also help some users (or become popular on TikTok).