What is 'rat girl summer?' The latest TikTok micro-trend empowers young women to 'scurry' about and party day and night.

• Another TikTok micro-trend for young women is upon us: Meet the "rat girl summer" movement.
• Rat girl summer involves unbridled partying and being outside at all hours of the day.

Hot girl summer is over, and its distant, more feral cousin is here.

"Rat girl summer" is the latest TikTok micro-trend aiming to empower young women to act like a city rat this summer: Lurk about at all hours of the day and night, snack on every little or big treat, and unabashedly live with no alarm, it advises.

"We're having a rat girl summer, OK?" said TikToker Lola Kolade in a June 4 video that's gone viral with more than 4 million views. "We're scurrying around the streets, we're nibbling on our little snacks, and generally finding ourselves in places we have no business being in. Embrace the rodent energy."Kolade has been credited for inventing the term and has since shared a number of follow-up TikToks explaining the tenets of "rat girl summer" and how to successfully have one.

There are four main rat girl summer qualities, she explained in a TikTok she posted a day later: Going outside ("You cannot scurry in bed, she said); allowing yourself to "nibble" or eat any food you'd like; "killing the cringe," or choosing not to be embarrassed about anything you do; and finally, no overthinking anything.

"You think a rat thinks twice before stealing a slice of pizza?" she asks rhetorically, recalling New York City's infamous Pizza Rat.

Young women on the app expressed amusement and said they felt emboldened by the rat girl summer pronouncement.

"This is actually really inspirational," one top commenter wrote. "Love this, I'm here for rat girl summer," another said.

Since then, a bevy of other creators have posted about the trend. On August 3, TikToker @briannaseewald0 offered her personal interpretation of rat girl summer, which essentially is trying to keep up with beauty and lifestyle maintenance — but OK leaving them to the wayside, too.

"It's a rat girl thing, but I'm a strong believer that bras and jeans don't get washed after every time you use them," she joked.

"Rat girl summer" is the latest in a string of labels TikTokers are giving for lifestyle habits for young women. In July, we were introduced to"girl dinner," or the concept of piecing together random assortments of food and snack items for a meal.

The trend to add "girl" to any label has become so trendy and congested that it's even led to self-referential parodies, like "tomato girl," "baked beans girl," or "hard-boiled egg girls," that seem to have very little meaning.

In any case, we bid an electrifying rat girl summer to all who may participate! Scurry responsibly.