interjection

uwu

Q: What does uwu mean?

It is a text face, not a word: the two u's are closed, happy eyes and the w is a small smiling mouth. People add it to a message to show they find something adorable or to sound warm and affectionate.

Q: What is the difference between uwu and owo?

uwu shows contented, closed eyes and suggests warmth or smugness. owo has wide open eyes and suggests surprise, curiosity or noticing something. Roughly, uwu is 'aww' and owo is 'oh?'.

Q: Is uwu used sarcastically?

Often, yes. Alongside its sincere use it is frequently deployed mockingly, to tease something for being cloying or to parody an overly cutesy tone.

OO-woo

Uwu (interjection) means an emoticon made from the letters u, w and u, representing a happy or contented face with closed eyes, used online to express cuteness, affection or delight. Example: “thank you for the drawing uwu”

interjection

internet slang An emoticon made from the letters u, w and u, representing a happy or contented face with closed eyes, used online to express cuteness, affection or delight.

"thank you for the drawing uwu"

"he sent me flowers uwu"

adjective

internet slang, often teasing Deliberately cute, soft or babyish in style or tone.

"The whole art style is very uwu."

"She does an uwu voice whenever she talks to the cat."

How to Use Uwu

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA little text face that means 'aww, that's cute'.

When to use it

Purely informal internet usage, strongly associated with anime, fandom and streaming communities. Out of place in any formal writing.

Memory tip

Almost always lower case. Capitalising it as UwU tends to read as more exaggerated or ironic.

Easily confused with

owo >w< :3

Common pairings

uwu face so uwu uwu voice

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Test yourself on “uwu” A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage →

Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

thank you for the drawing _____

Synonyms

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owo :3 ^_^

Frequently Asked Questions

What does uwu mean?

It is a text face, not a word: the two u's are closed, happy eyes and the w is a small smiling mouth. People add it to a message to show they find something adorable or to sound warm and affectionate.

What is the difference between uwu and owo?

uwu shows contented, closed eyes and suggests warmth or smugness. owo has wide open eyes and suggests surprise, curiosity or noticing something. Roughly, uwu is 'aww' and owo is 'oh?'.

Is uwu used sarcastically?

Often, yes. Alongside its sincere use it is frequently deployed mockingly, to tease something for being cloying or to parody an overly cutesy tone.

Featured In

Vocabulary lists that include uwu:

Words That End With U