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Salty is a slang term for irritated, angry, or resentful, especially as a result of losing or being slighted. This sense of salty originates in and was popularized by Black English.

The term salty has a long history of slang meanings, probably because of its association with sailors. In the 1860s, salty was a synonym for “racy” or “vulgar,” also a likely connection to (the popular reputation of) sailors.

By the 1920s–30s, salty is recorded in Black English as jump salty, meaning to become suddenly angry. The phrase jump salty stuck around well into the 1960s.

Owing in part to the influence of Black English on popular culture, salty has spread in the mainstream vernacular as a slang term for “bitter” and “upset,” e.g., He was salty I didn’t invite him to the party.

People who use the slang version of salty often use it to describe someone who is bitter or reacting sourly (emotions love taste metaphors) to something that made them upset—say, losing in a video game. And speaking of losing, slang terms or expressions that have a similar sense to salty include sore loser and butthurt.

Meghan McCain is just salty about Obama because somewhere in a closet she has a "first daughter" tiara that because of him she never got to wear it in public

— Oliver Willis (@owillis)

Don’t be salty with the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do

— 7 STREAMS OF INCOME (@aveclassse)

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.