About

Manlet is a pejorative term referring to men who are below six feet in height and feel compelled to emphasize their masculinity through weight lifting and body building. Online, the term is often used in a similar fashion to "beta male" in reference to reproductive success, most notably on fitness boards such as 4chan's /fit/ (Health & Fitness) and the BodyBuilding Forums.

Origin

It is unknown when manlet first started appearing in fitness threads. 4chan archive desuarchive only dates back the searches for "manlet" up to July 2012,^[1] while the earliest Urban Dictionary^[2] translation dates back to April 26th, 2005 (shown below).

Spread

Any height below 6 feet is typically referred to as manlet, while some also refer to 5'11" as "King of Manlets" due to it being the highest achieveable height before 6 feet. Over time various height scales have been created to classify manlet heights, however some of these charts shift the top manlet cutoff to either include 5'10" and up or exclude 6'1" and under. While the reasons for this differ and may rely on conversions to metric, the average height of Americans, or simply the height of the image's creator, 6'0" is on average typically seen as the manlet cutoff.

Likewise, various height comparison memes have been created surrounding the difference between 5'11", 6'0" and surrounding heights. Generally these memes intentionally overexaggerate the height difference between those heights, depicting manlets as much smaller than reality.

Additionally, various jokes have become popular surrounding the manlet term, most revolving around attempts by manlets to increase their height. The most notable jokes include drinking gallons of whole milk, doing stretches in their workouts, and using lifts in their shoes or wearing boots. A popular phrase in reply to manlets trying to defend or cover up their height is "When will manlets learn?".

Related Term: Lanklet

Lanklet (a portmanteau of manlet and lanky) is a similar term to manlet, but instead aimed at tall people. The term is most commonly seen as a counter pejorative term to manlet. Similar to manlet, lanklet has become associated with various jokes surrounding the term, most notably a lanky build, increased difficulty in gaining muscle mass, and a comparison to the average height of US males. However, comparisons to average male height is in return also used against manlets as an attempt to change the top of the manlet cutoff.

Additionally, height comparison charts aimed at women generally focus on being tall as an unattractive feature similarly to the lanklet term. Instead of lanklet these women are generally called "giraffe women", with the cutoff point on average placed around 5'7" and any height below King of Manlets being acceptable. While the term "womanlet" exists as well for short women, it is much less commonly used than manlet.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References