If You've Been Wondering What "Lowkirkenuinely" Means on TikTok, You're Not Alone

Internet trends are not always easy to follow. For those who are not chronically online, or even for chronically in-the-know folks who miss a week of memes, opening TikTok again can feel like learning a new language.

If that sounds familiar, you might also be wondering what "lowkirkenually" or "lowkenuinely" means. Thankfully, @zaydupree, who talks about linguistics and cognitive science on TikTok, is able to break it down.

The slang word "lowkenuinely" is a combination of the terms "low-key" and "genuinely." So a person might say that they "lowkenuinely" believe or agree with something in the sense that they genuinely have the opinion, but are a bit timid about stating it or want to be discreet about it.

TikToker @etymologynerd explains that in the term lowkenuinely is often used in a similar way that people say "literally" for emphasis, more so than as a definitive fact.

Linguistics scholar Zay Dupree explains that lowkirkenuinely contains one of English's few uses of an infix. A prefix comes before the root of a word, and an affix comes after the root. So in the word "unbreakable," "un" is the prefix and "able" is the affix.

An infix, however, is in the middle of a word. "Lots of languages have them, but English typically doesn't," Zay says. "The only exceptions are when we use swear words as infixes, like 'absof--kinglutely.'"

Because swear words don't always have concrete meanings, we can add them in the middle of a word without changing the meaning to provide emphasis.

He cites instances of teens on TikTok using Charlie Kirk's last name in an abstract way that doesn't actually refer to Kirk himself. He says that "Kirk" has been abstracted in slang to mean multiple things, from getting shot to receiving oral sex.

Zay explains that there is a taboo around saying Charlie's name, because if you say it in the wrong context, you could get fired or doxxed. This is similar to the way that saying swear words in inappropriate contexts could be offensive or problematic.

"The fact that even saying his name is so taboo has effectively turned 'Kirk' into a swear word," Zay extrapolates.

So given the fact that "Kirk" is sometimes used similarly to a swear word in TikTok slang, when people say "lowkirkenuinely," it effectively means the same thing as "lowkenuinely" in the way that "absof--kinglutely" means essentially the same thing as "absolutely," albeit with less emphasis.

"Lowkirkenuinely" is an adverb that means something is genuine, but meant to be expressed in a tentative or discreet way.

For example, if someone just went grocery shopping to save money on takeout, but they really don't feel like cooking, they might say, "I lowkirkenuinely want to pick up pizza on the way home."