What Is The Ick On TikTok Stands For? The Ick Tik Tok Meaning Explained
Christopher Martinez
Published Jan 07, 2026
The hashtag #Ick is the latest thing to go trending on Tiktok.
Has it ever occurred to you that you search for a word to describe your emotions but every word that comes to your mind isn’t close enough to what you’re actually feeling. Proably yes. That’s how the slang words get created, don’t you think?
And more or less, social media is the place where these slangs get to evolve. They get entwined with every online users and creators’ wall. And finally sticks to the mind of everyone, even to some dictionaries.
That’s how it has been since the introduction of social media. We get to learn bizzare stuff which we didn’t hear before at all. And Boom! It’s all getting viral in no time. Millions of videos and posts are made based upon the slang.
If you are among the people who keep up with the social media, you may have noticed recent trend of using #Ick on tiktok mostly. However, the hashtag is widespread to the other social networking sites as well.
What is the meaning of Ick on tiktok?
Ick is more of an informal term used as slang by most of the users online. Recently, it has been flooded on the tiktok videos. In general terms, it means a disgust or cringe feeling.
The term Ick is mostly used by the people in relationships. During the early days of relationship, whne you can’t completely accept your partner’s flaw, you may get Ick. When you suddenly developed a repulson towards someone to whom you were attracted before, it’s probably beacause you got Ick.
As for example, you are having a perfectly normal relationship with your partner. But one day when you went for shower, you saw his hair stuck to the soap. Now you don’t feel the same for the person. You’re just repulsed by that one action. It means you probably got Ick.
Hence, Ick means a cringe and undesirable feeling you get when you see someone doing things you didn’t expect. As a result, you developed a fully repulsive emotion towards the person instantly. It is mostly common in newly made relationship couples.
How did Ick become viral on Tikotk?
To know about it’s origin, one should go all the way back to 2016. The term “Ick” is supposed to be used for the first time by a contestant named, Olivia Attwood. She was competing in the UK’s relaity dating television show. Back then , she used the term to describe her relationship with one of the contestants named Sam Gowland.
According to her and quote, “When you’ve seena boy and got the ick. It doesn’t go. It’s caught you and it’s has taken over your body,” She added,” It’s just the Ick. I can’t shake it off.”
Since then, The term has been heavily used in the dating reality show, Love Island. And without any surprises it sccoped all the way to the social media like tiktok.
Is the Ick good or bad?
Mostly bad. It’s just the feeling of disgust over someone. Now that can’t be good, can it? You just develop a strong emotion of hate (or something close to it) just by their single action.
Especially on tiktok, there are lot of jokes made on the Ick. Such as one tiktoker commented as ” I got ick when I came to know about his fortnite flossing.” Or another one went like “He slept cuddling the dog when I was by his side.”
Besides there are some serious examples of Ick on tiktok. “I got Ick when I saw him being rude to strangers.”