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Glite Dictionary
who dis

who dis

9.9
To ask who is texting or calling when you do not know the person
  • idiom
  • Slang
translation icon : ¿quién es?
  • You texted me last night, but I didn't recognize the number—who dis?

Examples

  • Someone messaged the group chat and just wrote 'who dis?'

  • I got a new phone, who dis? Let me save your number.

  • I received a message that said, 'Who dis?'

  • When I got the text, I replied, 'Who dis?'

  • I got a new phone, who dis? Let me save your number.

  • You texted me last night, but I didn't recognize the number—who dis?

  • In the group chat, someone asked, 'who dis?' after receiving a random message.

Synonyms

who
vswho dis
∞ 1.0

Which person or people did something

identifies a message sender or caller in informal messages
new phone, who dis
vswho dis
  • Slang
9.9

A joking reply that pretends not to know someone who messages you

asks the sender's identity directly rather than joking or ignoring them

Surface Forms

who dis main

Morphology

who + dis

This is a colloquial respelling of 'who's this?'/'who is this?' so the meaning (asking the identity of the speaker/sender) is directly derivable from combining 'who' with the informal particle 'dis' (a phonetic form of 'this'/'is'). A B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings would therefore readily infer the MWE's function as an identity question, making it transparent despite its informal spelling.

Etymology

Who dis comes from fast texting and phone messages; it's a short, casual way to write 'who is this', with dis standing in for 'this'. Imagine getting a message from a number you don't know and typing who dis to ask who is writing — that's why it means 'ask who is speaking or texting'.