English Reference

Word

peeps

US/ˈpips/

UK/pˈiːps/

Definition

n. a casual way to talk about your friends or the people you are with. It is a short version of the word 'people'.

n. a colloquial shortening of 'people', used to refer to one's friends, social circle, or a specific group of individuals.

Examples

“I'm going to the movies with my peeps tonight.”

“She invited all her peeps over for a backyard barbecue to celebrate the end of the semester.”

Examples

simple

“I'm going to the movies with my peeps tonight.”

contextual

“She invited all her peeps over for a backyard barbecue to celebrate the end of the semester.”

Usage

Plural-only noun; takes plural verb agreement and is almost exclusively used in highly informal or social media contexts.

Pitfall

He is a good peeps.

He is one of my peeps.

Peeps is a plural-only noun and cannot be used to refer to a single person as an individual count noun.

Etymology

peep

Clipping of people with simplified spelling + -s to emphasize the plurality of the word.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/peeps

English Reference