What does glow up mean?
In the Internet slang, glow up refers to the improvement a person, including yourself, has made for the better.
It can be both a physical and mental change, but always a switch to a more positive or healthy version of yourself.
These changes can be either planned, such as diet and exercise, or they can come naturally.
How to use glow up?
The word glow up is used as a noun. We will use it when we want to indicate that a person has helped themselves, or has recovered, for example, from a breakup.
If someone who was once an ugly teenager joins a gym and becomes more attractive, for example, we will say, "Oh! what a "glow up" he had, since I last saw him.
This term is not very used in Spain, since we use the word "overcome", "remake" or "transform", but it is something very used in social networks by young people to say exactly the same thing.
As others Internet slang, this is mostly used during colloquial talks and in social networks as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Origin
No one knows when the word "glow up" originally came up, but some sites like Highsnobiety.com talk about the rapper Chief Keef and his song "Gotta Glo Up One Day".
The term became popular in 2018 when people uploaded photos from their past and present on socials under the hashtag #2012vs2018.
Synonyms
- advance
- transformation
- evolve
- flourish
- blossoming
Conclusion
The term glow up is used to describe the great physical or mental change someone has experienced. It can be used, for example, when someone has overcome a sentimental break-up and now is fully recovered.
