Uwu, often stylized as UwU, is an emoticon, or emotion icon, that indicates cuteness.
In the emoticon, the u characters represents the eyes while the w character represents a mouth. The emoticon is often used to denote tenderness, happiness, and, most commonly, cuteness.
Due to the intense use of the emoticon, many people have come to find uwu very annoying. The emoticon is especially popular in the furry fandom.
There is a variant of Uwu called OwO, which is also associated with the furry fandom and is often the response to what’s this? Owo is also supposed to denote cuteness alongside curiosity and perplexion.
Though no one has been able to reach a common consensus as to who started using the term Uwu, it is known to date back as far as 2005 in an anime fanfiction.
Many people believe that the word originated in internet chat rooms in the same way as :), 🙁 and other types of emoticons.
By 2014, the emoticon had spread all over the internet and firmly embedded itself into the internet subculture.
The word has become so prominent that it has been included in the Royal Spanish Academy’s word observatory, which defines Uwu as an emoticon used to show happiness and tenderness.
In the English-speaking world, major Twitter accounts, including the official Twitter account and the U.S. Army Esports account, have tweeted Uwu in response to other tweets.
What Does UWU Mean On TikTok?
TikTok has started using UWU the same way as people used to use it on Tumblr.
As a term that is most associated with the furry and anime fandom, the usual demographic that uses the term Uwu the most are teenagers, especially teenage girls and LGBTQIA+ youths.
The most prominent users of UWU on Tiktok and the stereotype when people say UWU are usually attractive girls wearing cat ear headphones playing some sort of game.
Belle Delphine can be seen as a perfect representation of these kinds of women. The way they say uwu is also very singular as they say it with a very cutesy voice that’s hard to be taken as sincere.
On the flip side, some people use uwu to make fun of the people from the anime and furry fandoms. In fact, some people make accounts that parody the stereotype of the sort of person that uses Uwu.
These parody channels usually have a mascot that resembles the image of the attractive girls mentioned above.
Lastly, some people just use uwu ironically because it is fun to say.
What Is Uwu’s Meaning In English Translation?
Uwu doesn’t have an exact English translation as it is an emoticon or emotion icon.
An emoticon, emotion icon, or simply emote is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters like punctuation marks, numbers, and letters to express feelings, moods, or reactions.
Emoticons first started as a time-saving method when they first started but have since become a staple of popular culture.
The first emoticons are generally credited to Scott Fahlma, a computer scientist who proposed what we now know as a smiley and frowny face. He proposed the two emoticons in a message on the bulletin board system of Carnegie Mellon in 1982.
In the west, emoticons are usually written at a right angle to the direction of the text. For example, :-).
Japan has its own kind of emoticon called kaomoji, which utilizes the larger character set required for Japanese that can be understood by tilting one’s head to the left.
As SMS, mobile text, and internet messaging became more prominent in the 90s and the 2000s, the use of emoticons became very popular as well.
Emoticons were commonly used in texting, e-mails, and intent forums. As communication through technology has increased, emoticons have played a significant role in expanding how humanity can reach each other.
In the 2010s, Emoticons gave to Emojis, which have been continually growing and increasing. Today, over 90% of the online world’s population uses emoticons or emojis.
Why Do People Keep Saying UWU?
People keep saying UWU for the same reason they say lol or any other slang word: it’s fun.
Due to the rise of the internet, people from different sides of the world have been able to communicate with each other, and emoticons, emojis, and slang have been created as a shorthand for communication.
For the people who are using it sincerely, uwu is a shorthand that means cute, tender, and happy. For the people who are using it ironically, uwu is a shorthand that they use to make fun of the former group of people.
The nature of slang is that they either have a very short shelf life or will be etched into human linguistic consciousness forever. The fact that uwu has been used for over a decade now probably means that uwu is here to stay.
Another reason why uwu is so popular is due to the fact that it is so strongly tied to the anime community. Uwu is also a way that people describe cute anime girls or use it when cosplaying or roleplaying as cute anime girls.
That’s a different world unto itself, but in a nutshell, uwu is an emoticon that indicates cuteness. UwU.