Photo and headline from the Mirror, posted to Facebook on 14 May 2026
7 August 2026
Temu is a rather new adjective meaning second rate, of poor quality, and it is often applied in a political context, critiquing the powers that be. It comes from the name of the online retailer. Temu launched September 2022 offering low-priced, and often low-quality, goods shipped directly to consumers from China. The name Temu is an abbreviated form of the company’s Mandarin motto, which translates as team up, price down.
The phrase temu brand to refer to a cheap knock-off is in place by 12 August 2023 when it appears in this tweet referring to some type of multi-level marketing scam relating to pornography on Only Fans:
contacted out of curiosity, and got invited to some temu brand hustler's university focused on exploiting OF models.
And we get the adjective Temu, without the brand, in a 29 November 2023 tweet:
oomf calling ghostmaker a temu batman has had me giggling for the past few minutes
And there is this in a political context on Bluesky on 21 September 2024:
fun fact in 2009 my geology 101 professor was adamant that this would be the cause of the next civil war and while he missed “rise of Temu Fascism” he’s still not wrong
And here are a few more posted to Bluesky on 20 November 2024. One is in reply to a video clip of Donald Trump with a very bad fake tan:
What in the melted Temu Madame Tussauds is this?
Another waxed eloquent on the quality of Trump’s appointments:
trumps cabinet is clearly temu
And this non-political post commenting on a video of a well-built, muscular man:
At the gym so I can look like the TEMU version of this guy
Nor is the adjective restricted to American politics. Here’s one posted to Bluesky on 21 November 2024 critiquing the Australian government:
Bill Shorten was the PM we deserved
Instead, we were ripped off with Temu Morrison
Sources:
@amandasmith.bsky.social. Bluesky.com, 21 September 2024.
@cassandrasl00.bsky.social. Bluesky.com, 21 November 2024.
@dropgoats.bsky.social. Bluesky.com, 20 November 2024.
@fentyheffa. X.com, 29 November 2023.
@kenblazed1.bsky.social. Bluesky.com, 20 November 2024.
@saiyangodfps. X.com, 12 August 2023.
@wvusportschick.bsky.social. Bluesky.com 20 November 2024.
Faithfull, Mark. “7 Things to Know About Temu Before You ‘Shop Like a Billionaire.’” Forbes, 13 February 2024.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, accessed 11 July 2026, s.v. Temu, adj. https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/tguzgmy
O’Toole, Garson. “Temu, adj. (2024).” ADS-L, 11 July 2026.
Image credit: The Mirror, 2026. Facebook.com, 14 May 2026. Fair use of a copyrighted image to illustrate the topic under discussion.