English edit

Etymology edit

woobie +‎ -fy

Noun edit

woobify (third-person singular simple present woobifies, present participle woobifying, simple past and past participle woobified)

  1. (fandom slang) To make into a woobie.
    • 2007, Catherine Tosenberger, "Potterotics: Harry Potter Fanfiction On The Internet", dissertation submitted to the University of Florida, page 100:
      (For some reason, Lucius and Tom are less prone to being woobified, perhaps because there is almost nothing potentially sympathetic about them for fans to grab on to, and the pleasure of villainy thus overrides the woobification impulse.)
    • 2020, Katharine Elizabeth McCain, "Today Your Barista Is: Genre Characteristics in The Coffee Shop Alternate Universe", dissertation submitted to Ohio State University, page 167:
      As a hero of Teen Wolf, Derek is not woobified in the traditional sense of the word, but some fans do feel that his flaws are downplayed in fic. Generally speaking, woobifying occurs in connection with villains, such as Kylo Ren in Star Wars or Lex Luthor in Smallville.
    • 2022, Bruce M. King, Lynn Kozak, “#Patrochilles: Find the Phallus”, in K. R. Moore, editor, The Routledge Companion to the Reception of Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality, unnumbered page:
      The use of a Disney theme song again "woobifies" our principal characters, and, like Miller, homonormativizes their relationship: []
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:woobify.