TBH

What does TBH mean?

TBH is "to be honest," shrunk to three letters. It is a little flag planted next to a sentence that says: this next part is my real opinion. Dictionary.com describes it as a way to signal a candid admission, a personal opinion or preference, or a wry or provocative remark. Wiktionary labels it internet and text-messaging slang.

Those three uses look different in practice:

• The opinion. "tbh the second season was better" softens a take by owning it as personal.
• The admission. "tbh I haven't even opened the reading" confesses something the writer might otherwise hide.
• The dry joke. "tbh I would also leave a party early to watch a documentary about bridges" uses mock seriousness for a laugh.

TBH can go at the start of a sentence, at the end ("the ending was rushed tbh") or tucked in after a comma. At the end it often reads like an afterthought shrug. At the start it can sound like the writer is bracing you for something.

Other meanings. In recruiting and workforce planning, TBH means "to be hired," a role that has been approved but not filled; Wiktionary lists this business sense. On an org chart, "Engineering manager: TBH" is an empty seat, not a confession. For a while, tbh was also the name of a teen app, covered below.

Examples

• Picking a restaurant in the group chat: "tbh I'd rather do tacos than sushi tonight"
• Study partner: "tbh I haven't started, want to do it together"
• Dating app opener: "tbh I swiped right because of the dog"
• Instagram comment on a friend's photo: "tbh this is the best picture of you ever"
• Roommate text: "not to be dramatic but tbh the fridge smells"
• Fan forum after a finale: "the last episode felt rushed tbh"
• Hiring plan on a slide deck (business sense): "Q3 headcount: two engineers, one designer (TBH)"

The texting examples share one thing: TBH never changes what the sentence says, only how sincere it sounds. Delete it and the meaning stays. Keep it and the writer is telling you they mean it.

Where did TBH come from?

• 1991: Wiktionary quotes a Usenet post from that year that writes "TBH (To be honest)" in full, so the abbreviation was already in early online discussion groups.
• 2003: The first Urban Dictionary entry, defining TBH as "to be honest," was submitted on June 23, 2003, according to Know Your Meme. Wiktionary added its own entry in December 2006.
• 2011: Know Your Meme notes that MakeUseOf listed the Facebook "TBH" game as an annoying habit that year. The game went like this: like someone's status, and they post a "tbh" about you, an honest opinion of what they think of you.
• 2014: Know Your Meme cites a September 2014 report in The Atlantic about Instagram users posting #TBH confession videos.
• 2015: On 4chan's video game board, the abbreviation was mocked as a marker of young newcomers who arrive over the summer, per Know Your Meme.
• 2017-2018: An app called tbh let US high school students answer kind multiple-choice polls about friends, who received the results anonymously as compliments. TechCrunch reported 5 million downloads and 2.5 million daily users within nine weeks. Facebook bought it on October 16, 2017, and, according to Wikipedia, announced on July 2, 2018, that it was shutting tbh down for low usage. Its co-creator Nikita Bier later relaunched the idea as Gas in 2022.

TBH vs NGL

NGL ("not gonna lie") and TBH are close cousins and often swap in for each other. Both announce sincerity. In everyday use NGL often leans toward admissions, the "I didn't expect to say this, but" moment: "ngl that movie made me cry." TBH is the broader of the two and fits plain opinions as well. ICL ("I can't lie") and fr ("for real") belong to the same family of honesty markers. None of these is ruder or more formal than the others; pick the one your friends use.

Is TBH rude?

The abbreviation itself is clean and fine for school, texts with family, or a casual work chat. What can be rude is the sentence attached to it. "tbh you look tired" is still a comment about someone's face; the honesty label does not soften it much, and some people use "tbh" as cover for a jab.

For parents: kids use tbh constantly, and almost always for harmless opinions about food, shows and homework. The noun form ("give me a tbh") from the old Facebook game was a request for an opinion about the person, which could invite unkind replies in public. That game belongs to the early 2010s.

In professional email, write "to be honest" in full or leave it out. As shorthand, TBH looks too casual for clients, and in recruiting it can be misread as "to be hired."

How to reply to TBH

• A friend says "tbh I'd rather do tacos": "fair, tacos it is"
• Your parent texts "tbh I'm not sure about the new haircut": "noted. it grows back"
• A coworker writes "tbh the draft needs more work": "Thanks for being straight with me. Which section should I start with?"

The reply usually answers the honest part. If someone has just admitted something, a short "same tbh" is a kind way to show they are not alone.

Is TBH still used in 2026?

Yes, and it shows no sign of leaving. TBH has crossed from chat rooms into mainstream writing; Wiktionary's quotations for the lowercase form include 2024 examples from The New York Times and Cosmopolitan. The part that has aged is the Facebook tbh game, a habit of the early 2010s. Lowercase "tbh" at the end of a sentence is the everyday form now. For more of the shorthand around it, see the texting abbreviations guide or the version for grandparents.