Uwu

The emoticon uwu is often used to denote cuteness (kawaii), happiness, or tenderness. Excessive usage of the emoticon can also have the intended effect of annoying its recipient. It is popularly used in the furry fandom.

The emoticon also has a more surprised and sometimes allusive variant, owo (also stylized OwO; {{IPAc-en|ˈ|oʊ|w|oʊ|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-owo.wav}}; also associated with the furry fandom and often the response "what's this?") that may also denote cuteness, as well as curiosity and perplexion.{{Cite web|title=People Have Discovered This Weird Furry Meme Is An Actual Word And It's Making Them Scream|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krishrach/people-have-discovered-owo-is-an-actual-word-and-its-making|access-date=2021-07-25|website=BuzzFeed News|date=2017-10-30 |language=en|archive-date=2021-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121123734/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krishrach/people-have-discovered-owo-is-an-actual-word-and-its-making|url-status=live|first=Rachael|last=Krishna}} owo gained popularity in 2018;{{Cite web |date=2022-09-15 |title="OwO" Meaning-Definition, Uses, Examples |url=https://grammarbrain.com/owo-meaning/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=19691598EEE845E58CCD579E575E2426 |website=GrammarBrain}} as opposed to uwu, the o characters represent open eyes. It is also sometimes used for trolling.{{Cite web |last=Leonard |first=Antonia |date=2022-05-31 |title=What Is Ow And Owo? |url=https://communityliteracy.org/what-is-ow-and-owo/?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=6D309C7826574B95877DF10D4E26DFDE |website=CLJ}} Another variant, TwT, is often used to symbolize crying, with each T representing a closed eye with tears streaming down.{{Cite web |last=Keshav |date=2020-01-29 |title=TwT – Meaning, Origin, Usage |url=https://digitalcultures.net/emotes/twt/ |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=DigitalCultures |language=en-US}}

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).{{Cite web |last=Deslierres |first=Ghislain |date=2000-04-11 |title=VCL - Ghislain-Deslierres |url=http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Ghislain-Deslierres/index02-by-date.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217225306/http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Ghislain-Deslierres/index02-by-date.html |archive-date=2021-02-17 |access-date=2023-04-23 |work=VCL |language=en}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Janani Mangai |title=The Origin and Spread of 'UWU' — The Word That Epitomizes Cuteness |url=https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/the-origin-of-the-word-uwu/ |work=Study Breaks |access-date=June 4, 2021 |date=2020-02-22 |archive-date=2021-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121123823/https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/the-origin-of-the-word-uwu/ |url-status=live }}

The word uwu is included in the Royal Spanish Academy's word observatory,{{Efn|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.{{Cite web|last=Morales|first=Manuel|date=2020-10-23|title=La RAE presenta su nueva web, con un 'Observatorio' de palabras que no están en el 'Diccionario'|url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2020-10-23/la-rae-presenta-su-nueva-web-con-un-observatorio-de-palabras-que-no-estan-en-el-diccionario.html|access-date=June 4, 2021|work=El País|language=es|archive-date=2021-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705171521/https://elpais.com/cultura/2020-10-23/la-rae-presenta-su-nueva-web-con-un-observatorio-de-palabras-que-no-estan-en-el-diccionario.html|url-status=live}}}} defined as an "emoticon used to show happiness or tenderness".{{Cite web|title=uwu|url=http://www.rae.es/observatorio-de-palabras/uwu|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Observatorio de palabras de la Real Academia Española|language=es|archive-date=2021-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705171523/https://www.rae.es/observatorio-de-palabras/uwu|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Mouse|date=2020-10-28|title=La RAE aclaró las dudas boomers sobre 'uwu'|url=https://www.latercera.com/mouse/la-rae-aclaro-las-dudas-boomers-sobre-uwu/|access-date=2021-06-04|work=La Tercera|archive-date=2021-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705171521/https://www.latercera.com/mouse/la-rae-aclaro-las-dudas-boomers-sobre-uwu/|url-status=live}}

• List of emoticons

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|uwu}}

{{Commons category|OWO face}}

• {{Know Your Meme | uwu | uwu}}

{{Furry fandom}}

{{Internet slang}}{{Generation Z slang}}

Category:Emoticons

Category:Furry fandom

Category:Internet memes introduced in 2000

Category:2000 neologisms

Category:Internet slang