Context is key, and this is especially true when it comes to breaking down what it really means to slay.

Despite the term’s murderous implications, the instruction is actually a huge compliment to the person receiving it. Per Dictionary.com, slaying means doing “something spectacularly well.” Used in a sentence, one could say, “Yasss! You slayed that outfit, queen.”

As speakers of the English language well know, the word has many meanings. Along with meaning “to violently kill,” the verb also means to make someone laugh. On the other hand, in Africa, calling someone a “slay queen” — or by translation, a golddigger — is pretty insulting.

But where did the term originally come from?