TikTok Slang That Makes Sense: An Ick

“Ick” is a word (yes, it’s a word — it’s in the dictionary) that can have several different meanings, even though most of them would be considered colloquial rather than the “King’s English.”

• “I thought you were going to clean the kitchen? There’s ick all over the stove!”
• “Your father made dinner for you? How was it?” “ICK!”
• “What’s the matter with you? You look pale!” “I don’t know. I just feel like I have the ick.”

There’s no mystery. You didn’t have to learn the word in English class to understand what’s being conveyed by “ick,” no matter what context it’s used in.

When someone uses “the ick” in a TikTok video or comment, though, they’re probably not using it in any of the ways we’ve just listed. Ick has a very specific meaning on the social media platform.

What Is an “Ick” on TikTok?

You can find TikTok content on virtually every imaginable topic while surfing your feed, but four subjects seem to dominate the app: dance and lip-syncing (as in challenges), fashion (and its close cousin, beauty), humor — and relationships.

That last one is understandable on a platform that’s populated primarily by younger TikTok users. They’re at an age where they’re naturally focused on boyfriends, girlfriends, BFFs, and other types of friends.

That’s the context in which “ick,” “an ick,” and “the ick” are generally used.

Even older readers in a permanent relationship can remember what it was like to be in the dating (and hookup) world. Many things can help you decide whether someone is worth your time. Being physically attracted to the person is certainly key, but many other attributes, including intelligence, sense of humor, morals, and financial stability, can factor in as well.

There’s a flip side: qualities that immediately disqualify a person from consideration. Most are simply a matter of preference; they range from smoking and heavy drug use, to the language someone uses or the way they dress.

Finally, there can be “an ick.” That’s a characteristic that immediately makes you feel repulsed by someone to whom you were originally attracted.

You might be out with someone for the first time and realize that they keep picking their teeth, or they constantly have to stop whatever they’re doing to take a selfie, or they insert a word like “totally” or “low-key” into every sentence they speak. You don’t know why, but you inadvertently cringe every time it happens and can’t imagine being with the person a moment longer.

In TikTok posts, that’s known as an ick. The word began trending on the app in 2020, and you’ll still see TikTok content about a user breaking up with someone who seemed perfect at first, but they couldn’t deal with the ick — whatever the ick might have been.

And now that you understand its meaning on the app, there’s no mystery to this usage, either. We’ve all been there.