# What does the ick mean?

Canonical: https://postmesh.app/glossary/ick

By PostMesh team. Published 2026-10-31; updated 2026-10-31.

The ick is a sudden feeling of being turned off by someone you were attracted to, usually because of something small they do, like the way they chew or run for a bus. Once you get the ick, it's hard to shake. People now use it for friends and things too.

## What the ick means

Getting the ick means your attraction to someone switches off, suddenly and often for a tiny reason. Nothing they did was wrong. You just watched them do something, like clap when the plane landed, call their pet a "fur baby" or chase a ping-pong ball across the room, and now you can't see them the same way. Cambridge Dictionary, which added the word in 2024, describes it as an abrupt switch to disliking someone, or to losing your attraction to them, set off by something they do.

The defining features are that it's sudden, it's usually triggered by something trivial, and it tends to stick. That's what makes it different from a red flag. A red flag is a warning sign about someone's character. The ick is a gut reaction that has nothing to do with whether they're a good person, which is exactly why it's so funny and so frustrating.

You'll hear it as "I got the ick," "he gave me the ick" or "that's an ick," and in the plural, "my icks." It started out about dating, but people now say a coworker, a brand, a song or a font gives them the ick, which some purists consider stretching it.

## Where the ick comes from

Ick itself is old. A 2022 history of the phrase by social listening company Brandwatch notes that Oxford Languages dates ick as an exclamation of disgust to at least the 1940s, and finds "ick factor" in a 1979 Newsweek review of the film Alien. TV writers liked it too: Friends aired an episode called "The One With the Ick Factor" on May 4, 1995, Ally McBeal used "the ick" a few years later, and Sex and the City aired "The Ick Factor" on January 11, 2004. Brandwatch argues that none of these quite matches today's meaning.

### Love Island makes it famous

The modern sense took off on the UK dating show Love Island in 2017, when contestant Olivia Attwood described going off a romantic interest and said the feeling doesn't go away once you have it. Know Your Meme's earliest online mention is a tweet from June 13, 2017, praising how well Olivia had described it, and a definition crediting her appeared on Urban Dictionary three days later. Euronews also credits Love Island with popularizing the term. Brandwatch notes it's unclear whether Attwood invented the phrase, but many viewers said she gave them a word for a feeling they already knew.

### How it spread

According to Brandwatch, mentions spiked in January 2020 when another Love Island contestant, Leanne Amaning, used the phrase, again in October 2020 when viral tweets asked people to share their icks, in August 2021 with another season of the show, and in April 2022, when people began applying it beyond romance. On TikTok, Know Your Meme says the #theick hashtag took off in June 2020, with creators listing the small things that turned them off. In 2024, Cambridge Dictionary made it official.

- 1940s: Ick is in use as an exclamation of disgust
- May 4, 1995: Friends airs "The One With the Ick Factor"
- Jun 2017: Olivia Attwood describes the ick on Love Island
- Jun 2020: The ick becomes a TikTok trend
- Apr 2022: People start using it beyond dating
- 2024: Cambridge Dictionary adds ick

*Dates from Brandwatch, Know Your Meme and Euronews.*

- About 120: users a week posted "the ick" before 2017, mostly about feeling ill
- Nearly 6,000: accounts a week used it by October 2022

*Brandwatch social listening data, October 2022.*

Brandwatch's numbers show how much Love Island and social media changed the phrase. Before 2017, it counted about 120 users a week posting "the ick," mostly to say they felt sick. By October 2022, nearly 6,000 accounts a week were using it, overwhelmingly in the dating sense.

## How people use the ick on social media

On TikTok, sharing icks is a format of its own: creators list their icks to camera, act out ick-inducing moments, and stitch each other's lists to agree or argue. Comment sections become crowdsourced collections. On X and Threads, "what gives you the ick?" posts pull in thousands of replies. On Instagram, icks show up in Reels and in captions under dating memes. In DMs and group chats, it's the quick verdict after a date: "he was nice but I got the ick." LinkedIn mostly stays out of it, except for jokes about workplace icks like reply-all.

Some made-up examples:

- A text after a date: "he was sweet but he blew on his soup for five minutes. the ick"
- A TikTok caption: "my icks, ranked from mild to unforgivable"
- A comment under a dating skit: "the way he ran up the escalator… instant ick"
- A group chat reply: "that's not a red flag, that's just an ick, give him another chance"
- A post about work: "biggest office ick: 'per my last email'"
- A self-aware tweet: "I give myself the ick when I say 'yummy'"

Ick lists are easy, relatable content, and they tend to draw comments. If you post them on TikTok, the [TikTok caption character counter](/tools/tiktok-caption-character-counter) helps keep the setup short, and our guide on [why a TikTok isn't getting views](/blog/why-is-my-tiktok-not-getting-views) covers what else affects reach.

## How to reply to the ick

If a friend tells you they got the ick from someone they were seeing, the kind response is to listen rather than argue. You can ask whether it's an ick or an actual red flag, since one might fade and the other shouldn't be ignored. If someone tells you that you gave them the ick, it stings, but it's usually about their taste, not your worth. A light reply like "fair enough" keeps your dignity. If someone posts their icks and one of them is something you do, it's not a referendum on you either.

**Someone mentioned the ick. What kind of moment is it?**
- A friend got the ick on a date → Listen, then ask: is it an ick or a real red flag?
- Someone says you gave them the ick → It's about their taste, not your worth. A calm "fair enough" is enough.
- An ick list on your feed → Laugh, add your own, or scroll on. It's meant to be relatable.
- "That's an ick" about a brand or habit → It's the loose sense: they just find it off-putting.

## What to do if you get the ick

First, name what you're feeling. If the trigger was something harmless, like how someone laughs or the way they said "tummy," it may be worth a second date before deciding anything. Small icks sometimes fade once you know someone better, and sometimes they don't. If the trigger was how they treated a server, a friend or you, that isn't an ick. It's information, and it deserves more weight.

Second, keep it off your feed if the person could recognize themselves. Posting "got the ick on a first date tonight" with enough detail to identify them is the kind of thing that travels back. And if you decide to stop seeing them, you don't need to explain the ick. A kind, simple "I don't think we're a match" is enough.

## When not to use the ick

Icks are funny when they're about harmless habits, like running for a train or saying "yummy." They stop being funny when they're about things people can't change, like their body, their disability, their accent or their income. Posting those as icks is just mockery with a trendy label. Be careful, too, about posting an ick that's clearly about one identifiable person. A friend's date might see it.

Brands can join ick conversations lightly, especially by poking fun at themselves or at universal annoyances like slow websites. Saying your customers' habits give you the ick is a bad idea. And in professional writing, use plain words: off-putting, unappealing or a dealbreaker.

**An ick is fair game when**
- [ ] It's about a habit, not a body, identity or disability
- [ ] It isn't about one person others could identify
- [ ] You're sharing it with friends or as a general joke
- [ ] A brand is joking about itself, not its customers

## The ick versus similar words

| Term | What it means | How serious |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The ick | A sudden turn-off from something small | Low, but hard to reverse |
| Red flag | A warning sign about someone's behavior | Serious |
| Beige flag | A quirk that's neither good nor bad | Harmless |
| Dealbreaker | A reason you won't continue, chosen in advance | Firm |
| Turn-off | Anything unattractive | Varies |

The ick is the end point of a lot of dating slang. It's what ends a [delulu](/glossary/delulu) fantasy, what can undo someone's [rizz](/glossary/rizz) in a second, and what happens just before a [soft launch](/glossary/soft-launch) never turns into a [hard launch](/glossary/hard-launch). Oversharing a little too early can trigger it too, which is where [TMI](/glossary/tmi) comes in.

## Questions

### What gives people the ick?

Almost anything small and unexpected: how someone eats, runs, talks to waiters, or reacts to a minor mishap. The point is that it's usually trivial.

### Can you get over the ick?

Sometimes, but it's known for sticking. Olivia Attwood, who made the phrase famous on Love Island, said the feeling doesn't go away once you have it.

### Who started the ick?

Ick has been around for decades, but Love Island contestant Olivia Attwood popularized the dating sense in 2017. It's unclear whether she coined it.

### Is the ick the same as a red flag?

No. A red flag warns you about someone's character. The ick is a gut reaction to something harmless.

### Is ick in the dictionary?

Yes. Cambridge Dictionary added it in 2024, describing it as an abrupt switch to dislike or lost attraction set off by something a person does.

### Can a friend give you the ick?

People say so, and the word is now used for friends, brands and things. Purists argue the true ick is about romantic attraction.

## Related terms

- [Delulu](https://postmesh.app/glossary/delulu)

- [Rizz](https://postmesh.app/glossary/rizz)

- [Soft launch](https://postmesh.app/glossary/soft-launch)

- [Hard launch](https://postmesh.app/glossary/hard-launch)

- [TMI](https://postmesh.app/glossary/tmi)

- [Simp](https://postmesh.app/glossary/simp)

## Sources

- [Know Your Meme: The Ick](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-ick)

- [Brandwatch Bulletin: The Big Ick (October 2022)](https://www.brandwatch.com/email/brandwatch-bulletin-0139-the-ick/)

- [Euronews: The ick, chef's kiss and boop among 3,200 words added to the Cambridge Dictionary](https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/07/26/the-ick-chefs-kiss-and-boop-among-3200-words-added-to-the-cambridge-dictionary)