Is "legit" a legitimate word?

Is legit an actual word, or is it a slang word that has been shortened from legitimate?

A string of letters doesn’t have to be in a dictionary to be a word, but, as it happens, there is an entry for legit in the Oxford English Dictionary, where it is given as both an adjective and a noun and defined as being a colloquial abbreviation of legitimate. The earliest citation is from 1897.

Whether and how you use it is up to you.

Is legit an actual word, or is it a slang word that has been shortened from legitimate?

Any "or" question can be broken down into two questions, so let's do that.

Is legit an actual word?

There are two common definitions for "actual"; it can mean "existing" or it can mean "genuine". So let's break that down into two questions:

Is legit an existing word?

Well, what is a word? In this case I suppose you mean that a word is the textual representation of a meaningful unit of language.

By that measure I would say that legit is a word and that moreover it exists.

Is legit a genuine word? That is, does it actually have the qualities of a textual representation of a meaningful unit of language?

I'm pretty sure it does, yes.

So by either definition it would appear that legit is an "actual word".

Now to come to your second question:

Is legit a slang word that has been shortened from legitimate?

Yes.

So the answer to both halves of your "or" question is "yes".

Summing up: Seems legit.

In almost any context, people would understand what you meant by "legit", but it's not completely cromulent.

Like Barrie England is saying, it's a colloquial abbreviation of legitimate. What needs to be emphasized for non-native speakers is that "legit" is used colloquially which means that you should not use this in formal speech or writing.

The urban dictionary entry also alludes to the fact that its use is becoming more synonymous with the slang term cool.