Wojak

See also: wojak and wójak

English

The original Wojak figure

Alternative forms

• wojak

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Balto-Slavic *wajas

Proto-Slavic *vojь

Proto-Slavic *-akъ

Proto-Slavic *vojakъ

Polish wojak

bor.

English Wojak

From the Internet meme Wojak, a cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful or melancholic expression. The original image was posted on vichan, a Polish imageboard, in 2009, and was later reposted to the German imageboard krautchan in 2010 by a Polish user called "wojak"; the username is from Polish wojak (“soldier; fighter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwoʊ.d͡ʒæk/
• (copying Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈvoʊ.jæk/, /ˈvoʊ.jɑːk/, /ˈvɔɪ.(j)æk/, /ˈvɔɪ.(j)ɑːk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Wo‧jak
• Rhymes: -əʊdʒæk

Noun

Wojak (plural Wojaks)

1. (Internet slang) An online image of a crudely-drawn person, often with a melancholic expression, with an art style based upon the original Wojak.
   • 2020, Soham Gadre, “Inside the Male-Dominated Meme Hijacked by Lib-Bashing Trumpsters”, in Daily Beast‎^[1]:

     From the original manifestation of a wistful look to the meme of two Wojaks hugging with the tag “I know that feel bro,” he has taken on contexts in male-dominated internet spaces that signify a brotherhood of sorts.

   • 2021, Jeffrey Demsky, Nazi and Holocaust Representations in Anglo-American Popular Culture, 1945–2020‎^[2], page 112:

     Owing to their coarsely drawn, unyielding masculine outlines, Wojaks are especially compatible with efforts to channel aggression.

   • 2021, Mike Watson, The Memeing of Mark Fisher: How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What To Do About It‎^[3], page 50:

     These figures, which regularly appear as characters in other meme formats, make variants of Doomer (male, female, boy, etc.) one of the most prevalent meme tropes of the early 2020s, with both a vertical reach (as straight copies of the original Doomer format) and a horizontal one (as variants in form, gender, and age, and, since late 2020, race – with Black Wojaks going viral).

Derived terms

• soyjak