Cringe

Cringe or cringey is often used to describe an event where someone or something has made you feel uncomfortable, awkward or caused you to feel second-hand embarrassment.

The phrase “cringe” has been something people have been saying for years now, it was first heavily used on twitter and then made its way to other social media platforms as well as in social gatherings. 

This slang has been used a lot with this new generation known as “Gen Z”. It’s often used in their vocabulary to describe a feeling they get when they see something they don’t like. For example when you see awkward middle school pictures of yourself and you can’t help but feel embarrassed that you wore the shirt or you did a certain facial expression it just makes you cringe looking at it.