alpha man Mug

A term with a somewhat subjective meaning which refers to a man who's considered high in status or a paradigm of masculinity. Originated in 1989 by martial artist instructor Marc "Animal" McYoung. How it's measured however varies a lot depending on who's using it. Sometimes it refers to a stereotypical 'macho', gangsta, jock, or tough guy, other times it refers to a ladies man or playboy who has sex with lots of beautiful women, or other times a guy who's wealthy or socially powerful, such as a successful entrepreneur, CEO, etc. As mentioned above often it's just used to refer to superficial and stereotypically "manly" qualities, other times however it refers to character traits independent from a man's material status, such as strength, courage, mastery, and honor. A beta man is an average or below average man on the 'alpha' scale; either a guy who's not very socially respected or attractive to women, or one who demonstrates weak or spineless behavior in general, sometimes posers and fake 'alphas' get referred to as betas as well.