About

Blud is a Jamaican slang term used most frequently by people in the U.K. as a term of endearment towards friends. It is an alternative to terms like "mate" or "bro," derived from the term "blood brother." In memes, the term is used in place of similar terms like "bro" for comedic effect.

Origin

The term "blud" has been used online since the early 2000s. The top definition of the term on Urban Dictionary,^[1] published on April 1st, 2003, simply reads "mate." Another definition on Urban Dictionary,^[2] written in 2006, describes how the term began as a Jamaican swear word but was adopted by people in the U.K. as a term of endearment, similar to the term "bredren."

Originally a Jamaican swear word (see bludclot), picked up on in the UK and used incorrectly as a term of endearment in the same way as Bredren. However, the term 'Blood' is used by members of the westcoast streetgang of the same name to acknowledge eachothers membership and as a term of endearment. The term Blud is now used in a same way in The UK as 'Nigga' is used in the US, but without the racial stipulation, its freely used by white and black youths to define friendship.

Spread

"Blud" has appeared in memes throughout the 2000s, often posted by English meme pages or referencing the United Kingdom in some way.

On October 6th, 2021, Instagram^[3] user thearchbishopofbanterbury shared a screenshot of a now-deleted tweet showing someone dressed as Sauron on the subway, writing, "I need petrol ASAP blud. Because wtf is this?" gaining over 133,000 likes in six months (shown below).

On October 26th, Facebook^[4] page 101 Great Goals.com posted a screenshot of football player Scott McTominay in a Zoom call with other players, captioned, "Who invited my man blud," suggesting he doesn't deserve to be among them, gaining over 3,900 reactions in six months. On February 17th, 2022, YouTuber Vanegood posted a voiced over version of the meme, gaining over 47,000 views in two months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References