egirl
An egirl is a girl or young woman with a very online persona and an alternative look mixing emo, goth, anime and gaming style. It can be a self-label or an insult.
By Cal Hewitt, Gen X · Researched from public sources · ·
What it means
Egirl names both a person and a style. The look is usually what gives it away: dyed or rainbow hair, heavy winged eyeliner, blush swept across the cheeks and nose, little hearts drawn under the eyes, chains, chokers, striped shirts, plaid skirts, anime references and cat-ear or gaming imagery. Dazed described it in 2019 as goth and punk pieces mixed with softer, anime-inspired touches. She does not have to play video games for the label to fit, and Dazed noted the same year that plenty of egirls on TikTok are there for the fashion alone. How it lands depends on who is saying it and about whom. Said by someone about herself, or by a friend who knows she likes the look, it is neutral or affectionate, a way of naming an aesthetic and a community. Said about a woman in a gaming space, it can be a put-down. Kotaku reported in 2019 that gamers used it for a woman they thought was using her gender to get attention online, and "boosted egirl" means a woman whose rank "was earned by someone else". In Twitch chat, on Discord or under a streamer's clip, that older, sharper sense is often the one in play. A quick test: makeup, outfits, hashtags and self-description point to the style; comments about donations, male viewers or someone else carrying her rank point to the insult. At work, a plain phrase like "online creator", "streamer" or "alternative style" says the same thing without the history.
See the quick definition in the egirl dictionary entry.
How to use it
“ok the heart freckles and the blush?? full egirl mode and it works”
A compliment on the look between friends. This is the style sense.
“i'm an egirl but i genuinely can't aim lol”
Self-applied and joking. The label is about her style, and gaming skill is beside the point.
“she's just a boosted egirl, her duo carried her”
Gaming chat. This is the insult: it claims someone else earned her rank.
“before i get egirl allegations, i'm hardly online and i have an irl”
A TikTok caption joke. Creators play at defending themselves against the label.
Where it came from
Egirl is a compound of "e-", for electronic or online, and "girl". Know Your Meme records its earliest known use in an Urban Dictionary entry dated June 14, 2009, by a user named awillie, who used "E girl" for a girl chasing male sexual attention. An early Twitter use followed on August 31, 2010. No single coiner is documented. Christine H. Tran, writing in Social Media + Society in 2022, places those early uses in a pattern of policing women's sexuality online. By the early 2010s the word was also aimed at female gamers and women with an online following in gaming communities.
The style sense took shape on TikTok in 2019. Know Your Meme dates the "I'm an E-girl Who Plays Video Games" starter pack by @broken_shroomz to January 2, 2019, the first YouTube compilation of "E-Girl Factory" TikToks to January 27, 2019, and MyNameIsBelieve's egirl and eboy compilations to February 23, 2019. By July 26, 2019, Kotaku ran Cecilia D'Anastasio's article "Young Women Are Reclaiming The Slur 'Egirl'", which set the old gaming insult beside the new TikTok look.
The word kept spreading after that. CORPSE's song "E-Girls Are Ruining My Life!", with Savage Ga$p, came out in September 2020 and circulated widely through TikTok and creator culture. Le Monde counted about 2.5 million #egirl posts on TikTok in March 2024, a snapshot that has surely moved since.
No single person is credited, the origin is commonly reported.
Where it's popular
English-language internet culture, strongest on TikTok, Instagram, Twitch and Discord, and in cosplay, anime and alternative fashion communities. It is not tied to a region.
How it caught on
- June 14, 2009Earliest known use, an Urban Dictionary entry by awillie using "E girl" as a put-down, recorded by Know Your Meme.
- August 31, 2010Know Your Meme records an early Twitter use.
- January 2, 2019@broken_shroomz posts the "I'm an E-girl Who Plays Video Games" starter pack, which Know Your Meme records at more than 4,300 retweets and 23,000 likes.
- January 27, 2019The first YouTube compilation of "E-Girl Factory" TikTok makeovers is uploaded.
- July 26, 2019Kotaku publishes "Young Women Are Reclaiming The Slur 'Egirl'" by Cecilia D'Anastasio.
- September 2020CORPSE releases "E-Girls Are Ruining My Life!" with Savage Ga$p.
- March 2024Le Monde counts about 2.5 million #egirl posts on TikTok.
Test yourself
Style or put-down?
0/21. A TikTok creator posts her new makeup look captioned "egirl era". What does she mean?
2. In a game chat, someone calls a player a "boosted egirl". What are they claiming?
Related slang
Questions people ask
Is "e girl" an insult?
It can be either. It started as a put-down aimed at women accused of chasing male attention online, and in gaming spaces it can still question whether a woman is a real player. Since 2019 many creators use it about themselves for an alternative style. Whether the person chose the label is the best clue.
Can a boy be an egirl?
The word itself names a girl or young woman. The matching term for a guy with the same online look is eboy, and Know Your Meme records the two spreading together in 2019 TikTok compilations.
How do you spot an e-girl?
By the style: dyed or bright hair, heavy winged eyeliner, blush across the cheeks and nose, small hearts drawn under the eyes, chains, chokers, striped or plaid pieces and anime or gaming touches. Playing video games is optional.
Who was the first e-girl?
The earliest known use of the word is a June 14, 2009 Urban Dictionary entry, and the look as people know it today took shape on TikTok in 2019. No single person is documented as the first egirl.
What does egirl mean in gaming or on Discord?
Often the older, harsher sense. It can suggest a woman is using her looks or gender for attention, donations or access, and "boosted egirl" means someone else earned her rank. A woman who calls herself an egirl in the same server is naming her style.
What are "egirl allegations" on TikTok?
A running joke. Creators caption clips "im not beating the allegations" or "before I get egirl allegations" to tease themselves about looking or acting like an egirl, the same way someone might say they are guilty as charged.
The earliest known egirl record, a 2009 Urban Dictionary entry, is about a decade older than the TikTok look that made the word famous.
- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/e-girl-e-boy
- https://kotaku.com/young-women-are-reclaiming-the-word-egirl-1836738879
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15274764221080930
- https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/45266/1/e-girls-e-boys-tiktok-instagram-fashion-eve-fraser-luis-abad-gen-z-style
- https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/e-girl-what-outfit-clothes-soft-makeup-hair-anime-tiktok-a9121871.html
- https://www.lemonde.fr/m-perso/article/2024/03/27/la-e-girl-cette-gameuse-qui-joue-avec-les-codes-du-jeu-video-en-streaming_6224390_4497916.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Girls_Are_Ruining_My_Life!
- https://www.tiktok.com/@pharahsgimp/video/7684799400224296223
- https://www.tiktok.com/@bunnipawsawh/video/7680101734622039310
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