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uwu (/ˈuːwuː/ ^ⓘ), also stylized UwU, is an emoticon representing a cute face. The u characters represent closed eyes, while the w represents a cat mouth.^[1]^[2] It is used to express various warm, happy, or affectionate feelings.

Usage and variants

The emoticon uwu is often used to denote cuteness (kawaii), happiness, or tenderness.^[2]^[3] Excessive usage of the emoticon can also have the intended effect of annoying its recipient.^[4] It is popularly used in the furry fandom.^[2]^[5] It is often erroneously used to reference Japanese otaku culture,^{[citation needed]} despite not being of Japanese origin and Japanese phonology lacking a "wu" sequence entirely.^[6]

The emoticon also has a more surprised and sometimes allusive variant, owo (also stylized OwO; /ˈoʊwoʊ/ ^ⓘ; also associated with the furry fandom and often the response "what's this?")^[2] that may also denote cuteness, as well as curiosity and perplexion.^[7] owo gained popularity in 2018;^[5] as opposed to uwu, the o characters represent open eyes.^[5] It is also sometimes used for trolling.^[8] Another variant, TwT, is often used to symbolize crying, with each T representing a closed eye with tears streaming down.^[9]

History

The emoticon uwu is known to date back as far as April 11, 2000, when it was used by furry artist Ghislain Deslierres in a post on the furry art site VCL (Vixen Controlled Library).^[10] A 2005 anime fanfiction contained another early use of the word. The origin of the term is unknown, with many people believing it to originate in Internet chat rooms. By 2014, the emoticon had spread across the Internet into Tumblr, becoming an Internet subculture.^[4]

The word uwu is included in the Royal Spanish Academy's word observatory,^[a] defined as an "emoticon used to show happiness or tenderness".^[3]^[12]

Notable uses

In 2018, the official Twitter account tweeted "uwu" in response to a tweet by an artist.^[13]^[14]

In 2020, the U.S. Army Esports Twitter account tweeted "uwu" in reply to a tweet by Discord, which was met by significant backlash from Twitter users. This event culminated in a trend of attempting to get banned from the U.S. Army Esports Discord server as quickly as possible, with a common technique being to link to the Wikipedia article on war crimes committed by the United States.^[15]^[16]

Notes

^ The word observatory is a website owned by the Royal Spanish Academy featuring words that are not included in the Diccionario de la lengua española and that have not been considered for inclusion, but for which people have wanted to know the meaning, including technical terms, neologisms, and foreign words.^[11]

References

^ "uwu". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. February 12, 2020. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Turner, Amy-Mae (May 26, 2019). "What does 'uwu' mean?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "uwu". Observatorio de palabras de la Real Academia Española (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 5, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Srinivasan, Janani Mangai (February 22, 2020). "The Origin and Spread of 'UWU' — The Word That Epitomizes Cuteness". Study Breaks. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ""OwO" Meaning-Definition, Uses, Examples". GrammarBrain. September 15, 2022.
^ Irwin, Mark (2011). Loanwords in Japanese. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 76. ISBN 978-90-272-0592-6.
^ "People Have Discovered This Weird Furry Meme Is An Actual Word And It's Making Them Scream". BuzzFeed News. October 30, 2017. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
^ Leonard, Antonia (May 31, 2022). "What Is Ow And Owo?". CLJ.
^ Keshav (January 29, 2020). "TwT – Meaning, Origin, Usage". DigitalCultures. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
^ Deslierres, Ghislain (April 11, 2000). "VCL - Ghislain-Deslierres". VCL. Archived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
^ Morales, Manuel (October 23, 2020). "La RAE presenta su nueva web, con un 'Observatorio' de palabras que no están en el 'Diccionario'". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 5, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ Mouse (October 28, 2020). "La RAE aclaró las dudas boomers sobre 'uwu'". La Tercera. Archived from the original on July 5, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ @Twitter (October 22, 2018). "uwu" (Tweet). Retrieved June 4, 2021 – via Twitter.
^ Thomas, Miles (October 22, 2018). "Why Did the Official Twitter Account Tweet 'uwu'???". Crunchyroll News. Archived from the original on July 5, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
^ @USArmyesports (June 30, 2020). "uwu" (Tweet). Retrieved June 4, 2021 – via Twitter.
^ Hernandez, Patricia (July 1, 2020). "The US Army is losing the war in Discord". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.