Fam means your people: your closest friend or your group of closest friends. It's British slang: people use it to address friends in a chat or in person (what's up, fam?) or to talk about people who feel like family. Don't use it with colleagues, a teacher or strangers: in a work email, write Hi all, and in an essay or IELTS Speaking, say my close friends.
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hey/thanks/what's up + fam; my fam = my closest friends
- Big news, fam: I got the job in Manchester! Drinks on Friday?
- What's up, fam? Anyone free for five-a-side football on Sunday morning?
- The lads from my old job are my fam, we've been through everything together.
What changed
First versionHi fam, please find attached the quarterly budget report for the board meeting.
RevisionHi all, please find attached the quarterly budget report for the board meeting.
A report for the board meeting goes in a work email, while fam is for your closest friends. It's been replaced with the neutral Hi all, the usual way to start an email to several colleagues at once.
Fam also means family, and that use is informal too. Usually the article the and the context give it away: I'm spending Christmas with the fam is about relatives. Fam without an article, used to address people in a chat, is more often aimed at friends: See you at the match, fam.
Your turn
Can't believe you all came to see me off at the airport, ___, you're the best!
Show the answer
fam — You all shows the speaker is talking to the whole group, and fam is exactly a way to address a group of friends. Bro is for addressing one mate, so it doesn't go with you all.
Write in a group chat with your close friends. Address them as fam and suggest a plan: what you'll do and when.
Hey fam, who's up for a picnic in the park on Saturday at two?
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