student asking question

What does "dude" mean here? Can I use it to older people?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Dude" is a slang term for a man or a guy. It is very informal and mostly just used between friends. While it is mostly used to refer to guys, sometimes people call their female friends "dude", depending on how close they are with them. The word "dude" is very informal, so it is not a word that would be very appropriate to use to refer to older people with. "Dude" is mostly used among young people of the same age group, and especially between close friends. Ex: Hey dude, what's up?

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