BSF: On TikTok, It Means What You’d Probably Think It Does

Many of the acronyms you see regularly on TikTok are impossible for most people to decipher.

OOMF? BBL? BDE? How could any ordinary TikTok user make a reasonable guess about their meanings? (If you’re wondering, they stand for “one of my followers,” “Brazilian butt lift,” and “big d—k energy,” respectively.)

When you see the term “BSF” in a TikTok post, you may have to give it a little thought. However, if you’re familiar — as most people are — with the acronym “BFF,” you’ll have a pretty good shot at guessing the meaning of the newer term.

What Does BSF Mean on TikTok?

The first documented use of BFF to mean “best friends forever” occurred in 1978, but the acronym has been common slang since the mid-1990s, when Lisa Kudrow’s character Phoebe used it in an episode of Friends. It was quickly adopted by Gen Xers and millennials, widely used in text messages and online, and added to the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2010.

Few things last forever on social media platforms, though. In the late 2010s, the term “BSF” started appearing on TikTok and other apps as a replacement for BFF.

BSF simply stands for “best friends,” although some people interpret it as “best sister friends” and use it to address or refer to their closest female friend.

Why is the “S” necessary in general usage? That’s a good question; unless it means “sister,” it doesn’t stand for anything except the “S” in “BeSt.”The apparent explanation is that teens wanted to distinguish“BSF” from “BF,” the acronym normally used to mean “boyfriend,” while feeling that adding the word “forever” wasn’t necessary.

You’ll often see or hear BSF used by people sending messages of love or affection to their bestie, discussing activities they enjoyed with their best friend, or railing against someone who used to be their BSF.

Once in a while, the acronym is used on TikTok to stand for other phrases like “beautiful, smart, funny,” “bullshit friend,” or even “boob-staring freak” — so pay attention to the context before jumping to conclusions. But it refers to “best friend” 99% of the time, particularly if it’s being used by someone in Gen A or Gen Z in their TikTok content.

Don’t get accustomed to guessing right about the meaning of TikTok slang, though. You’ll usually be wrong!