- “Random” originally meant “seeming to be without purpose or direct relationship to a stimulus” and is used metaphorically in “rando” to refer to how the origins and purpose of the “rando” are unknown.
Rando(2)
noun; clipping
A stranger who is not part of a group, an outsider.
Etymology : “Rando” originated in the 1990’s computer hacker community to refer to people who were around the computer hackers but not hackers themselves. “Rando” quickly spread to the rest of English speakers and was broadened to refer to anyone who was around a group but not a part of the group themselves. Random is borrowed from the French “randoun” meaning “speed, haste” or “impetuousness, violence.”
Source : Cheerleader: “Who was that rando hanging around our cheerleading practice?” (Conversation among cheerleaders, 9/23/2019).
Last modified: 14 December 2019