Etymology tree
Proto-Semitic *ʔalp-
Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤐 (ʾlp)bor.
Ancient Greek ἄλφα (álpha)bor.
English alpha
Latin mās
Proto-Indo-European *-lós
Proto-Indo-European *-elós
Proto-Italic *-elos
Proto-Italic *-kelos
Latin -culus
Latin masculus
Vulgar Latin masclus
Old French maslebor.
Middle English male
English male
English alpha male
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep
Proto-Indo-European *-o
Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó
Proto-Germanic *ab
Proto-West Germanic *ab
Old English æf
Old English of
Middle English of
English of
Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kruppazder.
Frankish *kruppbor.
Vulgar Latin *cruppus
Italian gruppobor.
French groupebor.
▲
Italian gruppobor.
English group
English AMOG
English mog
Derived from AMOG (“alpha male of group”) perhaps influenced by mug (i.e. in mug shot). The word first appeared on fitness forums and imageboards around 2016 and was popularized around 2021.
Meanings
(Internet, intransitive, qualifier:especially incel slang, stative, transitive) To manifest effortless dominance through self-evident superior handsomeness, especially with composure and by quiet comparison.
This youngshit mogs me: I'm such a hon.
Jordan Peterson totally blew his big moment of cultural relevancy and celebrity by getting mogged by [Slavoj] Zizek, becoming a pillhead and eating too much meat. Not very cash money of him. 2021 February 23, @Votto007, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2023:
Uncanny clips of him “mogging” other men — that is, standing next to them and making them look common by comparison — and mercilessly appraising women’s looks have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram. […] And in a show of diplomacy, he said he met with several prominent Jewish club owners in Miami over the “Heil Hitler” incident. (“No more politics, just mogging,” he wrote on Instagram.) […] Clavicular, characteristically, attributed his good luck with the criminal justice system to his looks. “You just gotta mog,” he posted on X, above a screenshot of a news headline. 2026 February 13, Joseph Bernstein, “Handsome at Any Cost”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2026:
It's so funny when people misgender me because I mog like 75% of cis women 2022 September 4, @princessyntheia, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2022:
Seriously, whenever I'm on campus, I just get mogged to fucking oblivion. The men are all so fucking god-like compared to a subhuman loser like me. 2018 August 30, u/ATrashcanInHumanForm, “How can I cope when I'm constantly mogged by gods among men?”, in Reddit, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2023:
Elliot Rodger mogs pretty much everyone. 2020 March 17, Brian Whitney, The "Supreme Gentleman" Killer:
His face mogs mine to hell and back.
she's not even upset about them mogging her, she's upset them looking the same as her. She considers being our equal to be a horror of horrors. 2022 September 15, u/ntr5ctr, “cis woman has bdd about looking similar to mtf celebrities (ones that actually pass like hunter) 💀 its over if you dont cispass, people will always see you as male”, in Reddit, r/4tran, archived from the original on 15 Sep 2022:
He mogged him just by standing next to him.
"Watching a Gigachad mog [i.e., outperform] a Chad will be the most pleasurable moment of my life," wrote an incels.co user last year, as "in that moment a Chad will truly understand the pain incels go through." 2021 February 1, Miles Klee, “Fear of the Impossible GigaChad”, in MEL Magazine, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2023:
(Internet, broadly, stative, transitive) To be superior to (something); to beat, outclass.
You live on an alternate world I take it? Joker mogs any MCU film. Batman will too. 2022 January 2, @AceX_50, Twitter, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2024:
Internet absolutely mogs real life because here you can meet so many smart and intelligent people. I met a few here who I'm genuinely sure are in the top 10 of the smartest humans alive right now. 2024 February 22, @Ilurkedshadows, Twitter, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2024:
Hyderabad is enough to mog any Pakistani city in infrastructure. 2023 July 6, @btarunr, Twitter, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2024:
Unknown; the Oxford English Dictionary tentatively suggests a connection to the Scottish dialect terms mudge (“to move oneself; to stir”) and muggins.
Meanings
(UK, US, dialectal, intransitive) To move or walk slowly; to trudge, amble; (more broadly) to go.
But mostly, that dark and rainy afternoon — as I mogged back and forth between boat and office, and then, all books and papers and twenty-seven boxes of Nick the Nose safely aboard, distributed the cargo here and there from stem to stanchion— I thought about Gaybee, her place in the ground, and how sorrowfully soon she had come to it. 1979, William Kelley, The Tyree Legend, New York: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 350:
"Thirty pounds a day," Alex said. "Mogging about in the jungle is unhealthy—fever, tigers, and all that." 1986, Alvin S. Fick, “A Grave on the Indragiri”, in Cathleen Jordan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock's A Mystery by the Tale, London: Severn House, published 1990, →ISBN, page 191:
They marched, grumbling and threatening, but Sile never paid a bit of attention. He just mogged on behind, and every time one of them turned, he wiggled his gun, and that was enough. 1923, Clarence Budington Kelland, Catty Atkins, Financier, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 128:
He was mogging around on the Muskrat Creek near Indian Lake when he shot and wounded a big buck with the finest head that he had ever seen, a set of horns that he would never forget. 1978, Harvey L. Dunham, Adirondack French Louie: Early Life in the North Woods, Sylvan Beach, N.Y.: North Country Books, page 102:
They're loyal. And you're not one of us, so we want you out. We're taking over this business. And tha can mog off right now. 2016, Margaret Dickinson, The Buffer Girls, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 306:
Two girls hugged her and they all put on boots and shoes and mogged away to the wagons. 1988, Glendon Swarthout, The Homesman, London; […]: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 187:
We know that economist and ex-con Vicky Pryce went properly nuclear when her husband Chris Huhne mogged off with his aide, resulting in wrecked political careers, a family torn asunder and custodial sentences. 2013 October 10, Rebecca Armstrong, “Revenge is a dish best served... by a woman”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Jul 2022:
to mog about
I had to do everything on my own. But I made the best of it and mogged on. 2013, Kathryn R. Biel, Good Intentions, page 246:
to mog off
(UK, US, dialectal, rare, transitive) To cause to move; to drive.
'Tell John to mog the cows i' in the mornin'—it's time as they wenten i' the Cote Leasnow.' 1879, Georgina F[rederica] Jackson, “MOG”, in Shropshire Word-Book, a Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words, etc. Used in the County, London: Trübner & Co, page 285:
"I've been directed here to find Miss Susan Pike," the man outside explained, between fresh coughings. ¶ "Well, then, mog your boots out of this as quick as ever you can!" my Aunt replied, with great promptitude. "You won't find her here!" 1894, Harold Frederic, “My Aunt Susan”, in Marsena and Other Stories of the Wartime, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 200:
(intransitive, transitive) In the game of costly colours: to exchange (a card) with the dealer.
Mogging or Changing. The cards being dealt, the first player asks the dealer if he will mog, i. e. exchange a card with him. Should he refuse, the challenger scores 1. […] If the opposite partners do not mog, the dealer has the privilege of mogging with the 'deck,' which he does by taking the card next under the trump and substituting in its place one out of his own hand. 1886, Georgina F[rederica] Jackson, edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings, London: Trübner & Co., page 648:
The more I hear about Larry the Downing Street cat, the more his story becomes an allegory for our time. As previously reported, the reputation of this mog was trashed by Downing Street spin doctors after he was brought in to clear the Prime Minister’s workplace of mice in 2011. 2013 October 18, Andy McSmith, “Andy McSmith's Diary: Even Larry the cat is not safe from factions in Downing Street”, in The Independent, London: Independent Digital News & Media Ltd, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Oct 2022:
They two gorgeous mogs even have their own teddy bear and blanket to make their snuggling. 2017 June 6, Luke Barnes, “Sleeping cuties! Adorable brother and sister kittens can't sleep unless they cosy up together in bed”, in The Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Dec 2017:
Many pet owners have taken up cat-walking in recent years, encouraged by others on social media and by the growing range of outdoorsy cat kit on offer. But for most mogs, the RSPCA suggests, "an indoor environment with plenty of opportunities to be active and mentally stimulated is likely to be more beneficial for the cat's welfare than walking them on a lead." 2017 August 14, Tim Walker, “Should you take your cat out on a lead?”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2022:
Get that mog out of here!
A few months before she died, Winefride had started setting food out for a brindled mog named Sally who lived in their neighborhood. She was always feeding local cats, but she especially loved this mog, and eventually, Sally grew enormous. 2016, Bill Broun, Night of the Animals, New York, N.Y.: Ecco, →ISBN, page 172:
Ulysses the cat is the real breakout star of the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. He's not the first feline scene-stealer, though - here are ten other great cats in film (animated mogs excluded) 2014 January 24, Fiona Wilson, The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2021:
(Australia, informal, transitive) To remove (a public servant) from their position following a Machinery of Government change, a process in which the Government of Australia reorganizes the responsibilities and structure of the government.
But recently under a machinery of government change, with the centralisation of the cybersecurity function under Alastair MacGibbon, that team has been mogged out from the DTA. 2018 February 26, Asha Barbaschow, quoting Gavin Slater, “Digital Transformation Agency wants its cybersecurity team back”, in ZDNET, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2022:
The slowdown in house purchases prior to an election is natural, but not because public servant buyers are skittish about the political climate. They just don't want to watch the ink dry on their sale on a house in Tuggeranong, close to their department, only to be comprehensively mogged and presented with a commute to another building in faraway Belconnen - or worse, Gosford. 2013 October 1, “The public service guide to getting mogged”, in The Canberra Times, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2023:
On Friday night, at the stroke of midnight, over 70,000 Commonwealth workers will be mogged, as the [Scott] Morrison government's abolition of four portfolios officially take effect, with an expected cost of $80 million. 2020 January 31, Tom Burton, “Why 70,000 public servants are dreading midnight”, in Australian Financial Review, Sydney: Nine Entertainment, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2023:
After every election there is a lot of focus on the reshuffle – the personnel changes as a prime minister creates their new team. But civil servants will also be looking to see if it is not just their ministerial team who are reshuffled but whether they have been "mogged" – the verb the Australians use for what we rather less dramatically call "subjected to a machinery of government change". If we read the manifestos, there is quite a lot of potential "mogging" on offer. 2019 December 11, Jill Rutter, “You've been mogged: what machinery of government changes can we expect?”, in King's College London, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2020:
[Kevin] Rudd, [Peter] Coaldrake and [Glyn] Davis joined [Wayne] Goss, [Tom] Burns and Treasurer Keith De Lacy on the Machinery of Government (MOG) Committee that reviewed the reports of the PSMC (and led to the idiom that people had been 'mogged'). [2014, Patrick Weller, Kevin Rudd: Twice Prime Minister, Victoria, Australia: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 56: