What does KEKW mean? Twitch chat's favorite expression explained the origin of KEKW.
If you've spent even five minutes in a Twitch chat this year, you've probably seen the word 'KEKW' or 'KEK' a lot. However, what exactly does KEKW mean?
Twitch chatIt can be a bit of a minefield for the inexperienced, and to some extent it's like learning a whole new language. Except it's thumbnails called emoticons instead of words.
KEKW in particular has become one of the most used emoticons on the platform, but most users won't be able to see it because BTTV or FrankerFaceZ – Requires browser add-ons for Twitch.
Maybe you find yourself in this boat but fear not, we will now explain everything you need to know about the meaning of the infamous cake.
What does KEKW mean?
To start off, the 'KEK' part of the word comes from the game World of Warcraft. In WoW, users in opposing groups would see an encrypted version of their chat messages, so when players in one group type 'LOL' (laughing out loud), players on the other side would see 'KEK'.
This started and soon after that, KEK actually replaced LOL. It then spread outside of the WoW gaming chat and was used across the web on Reddit, Twitter and of course Twitch.
What is KEKW on Twitch?
KEKW is the message posted on Twitch chat to generate the KEKW emoticon. Users with BTTV / FrankerFaceZ installed in their browser will see a picture of a smiling man.
Specifically, that laughing man is El Risitas, who laughed on Spanish television. It comes from a viral video clip. El Risitas sadly passed away in 2021, but the meme lives on in his honor.
KEKW is now one of the most popular emoticons to represent laughter on Twitch.
As you can probably guess now, the expression KEKW is often used to represent laughing at something really funny.
While there are many laugh emoticons such as LUL, LULW, and OMEGALUL, KEKW is probably more popular than all of them combined, at least on some channels.