What Does E/N Mean On TikTok? Fanfiction Shorthands Like Y/N and E/N Explained

Stan communities, Fandoms, and people who are really into a show, band, or movie all have their respective haunts on the internet. On sites like Wattpad, Fanfiction, and Archive of Our Own, the most devoted of all fans become writers in a quest to put their deepest fantasies into words and realize them in some way by sharing them with other people.

But while some fanfiction makes its way off the website and into contemporary pop culture history, much of fanfiction writing can be described as a series of self-insert, wishful thinking fueled "Imagines," named as such due to the sheer number of such stories with begin with the word.

But what do the acronyms y/n and e/n have to do with fanfiction and the world of "Imagines"? Here's a quick refresher on the codex of low-brow fan-made internet writing.

What Does Y/N Mean On TikTok, And What Are 'Imagines'?

Acronyms like e/n and y/n are placeholder terms used in place of the words "enemies name" and "your name." This style of supplanting names with abbreviations has long been practiced in internet fan culture, to the point where popular site Fanfiction.net had to actually ban the writing of self-insert "y/n" style posts way back in 2005.

Fanfiction scenarios that use terms like y/n are often called "Imagines," since they aim to help you imagine yourself in a scene with your pop star crush, or a fictional hottie. You're supposed to plug in your name in the place of every "y/n" to make the reading experience as immersive as possible.

What Does E/N Mean On TikTok, And What Are Some Other Fanfiction Acronyms?

E/n stands for "enemy's name," and is typically used in fanfiction stories that follow the "enemies to lovers" story trope. E/n style "imagines" blew up on TikTok in 2023, with users sharing brief scenarios pitching the idea of falling in love with someone you don't like.

@imagineasap #pov : E/n looks at you weirdly and you ask him to stop but he keeps going and even so better #eternal_weirdo #foryou #imaginestories #imagineasap #zyxcba #imaginescenarios #fyp #foryoupage #booktok #book #story #oneshot #viral #viralvideo #enemy #enemiestolovers #look #stare #staring ♬ som original – 春野舞羅

@hatedlyra You guys I kinda feel bad for e/n🤨 #foryou #imaginestories #ynpov #fyp #viral #imaginescenarios #fypシ #yn #imagine #enemies #enemiestolovers #tappedout #tapped ♬ everything works out in the end (best part looped) – ciaffa & fedo DJ

Some other acronyms that sometimes appear in such videos include "h/n" or "his name," "m/n" or "Mom's name," "f/n" or "Friend's name," and so on. A lot of such writing relies on context clues given that it is typically brief, now being shared on short-form video sites like TikTok.

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For the full history of "Imagines" and Wattpad, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.