What does IYKYK mean? Internet slang term explained

“IYKYK” is just one of many slang terms used across social media from TikTok to Twitter, but if you aren’t sure what it means, here’s everything you need to know.

Throughout the years, the internet has seen a whole range of different slang words, acronyms, and references, with some of them going out of use as quickly as they came about, and others lasting online even to this day.

In particular, platforms like Twitter and TikTok have popularized several new slang terms and acronyms, such as “moots”, “mid” and “FYP”. But with so many of them these days it can be hard to keep up if you’re out of the loop.

One term that is particularly popular on social media is the acronym “IYKYK”, which can be written both capitalized and non-capitalized. But what exactly does it mean?

What does IYKYK mean?

IYKYK is an acronym and stands for: “If you know, you know.” It essentially refers to a reference or throwback that only certain people will get, though that group of people depends entirely on the context.

The term is often used when people are making references to anything from TV shows to memories from people’s childhood and may be written as part of a sentence, on its own, or as a hashtag.

Some trends on TikTok even used the phrase in videos meant to intentionally confuse people who are out of the loop, by talking about or doing something nonsensical.

So essentially, if you see the term “IYKYK” alongside something you don’t understand, the chances are you aren’t the target audience for the post.

If there are other words people are using on social media, TikTok in particular, that you don’t know the meaning of, you can check out our slang guide here.