my bad
47
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
- When I realized I had sent the email to the wrong person, I quickly apologized and said, "My bad."
- Oh, my bad
- sorry, my bad
- say my bad
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Watch on YouTubeAnd then I literally said repeat after me, my bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up.
- And then I literally said repeat after me, my bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up.
- So maybe that's my bad, but I think everybody understands that, right.
- You was in LA and I was like, oh shit, my bad.
- She said I'm not saying honey that was my bad.
- So yeah, my bad, my bad.
- So I'm like, yeah, my bad, bro.
- And the other one said, oh, yeah, my bad.
- And then from men, I go to this where it's like, Oh, my bad.
- And she was like, oh, she's like, my bad.
- Yeah, but I'm trying to think like like teenage, like my bad.
- Everything is on OK and my bad.
Examples
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I forgot the line, my bad.
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Wrong number, my bad.
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So I call back, my bad, my bad, my bad.
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So yeah, my bad, my bad.
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I like, yeah, my bad, my bad.
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My bad, my bad, my bad.
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Oh, my bad, that was me. Oops, I'll pick a new spot next time.
Blog text (2) -
A simple "My bad" on his part really could have saved him a lot of embarrassment.
Blog text (26) -
And then I literally said repeat after me, my bad, I'm sorry, I screwed up.
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I've lost count of the number of times I've said "my bad."
Blog text (22)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Feeling regret for something you did
97
3.9
A short word people say after a small mistake or accident
11
8.5
A statement saying you are sorry for a mistake
How Apologetic
Surface Forms
Morphology
my + bad
Although the parts 'my' (possessive) and 'bad' (negative quality) give a partial hint that something about the speaker is negative, the jump from 'bad' to admitting responsibility ('my fault') is idiomatic and sociolinguistically marked. A B1 learner who knows both words may guess a negative comment about the speaker but will not reliably infer the conventionalised apology/acceptance-of-blame meaning without prior exposure, so the expression is partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
The phrase my bad likely comes from casual American games like pickup basketball, where a player who made a mistake would say my bad, literally calling their action my bad. One popular story says this short line became an easy way to admit a mistake, so today it means 'my fault' or 'sorry'.