Means: A very close, trusted friend

Usage: “Hi fam, how you doing?”“What you sayin’ about my fam?”

There are many ways of pledging eternal friendship in the realms of Yoofland - saving someone a seat in the canteen, allowing your homework to be copied or giving up a last cigarette for someone in slightly more dire need. But more than most it takes the form of a kind of verbal knighthood, an honorary title that assures you’re all in it together. “Fam” is a classic example. But just as “brother” became “bruv” and “blood relative” became “blud”, the slang of the streets often suggests a familial allegiance that isn’t there - “fam” may derive from a shortening of “family”, but it simply means someone who is trusted and held above the herd. They say blood is thicker than water, but the yoof don’t mind if the red stuff is a relative’s or just a really good pal’s as long as that bond means uniform silence when Miss Williams comes a-searching for suspects.