Purr (Slang)

About

Purr is an internet slang term used to express love, excitement or adoration towards something, similarly to the purr of a cat. The slang term was popularized online in 2020 by influencer Rolling Ray, becoming a commonly used term on TikTok by 2022.

Origin

On an unknown date, influencer Rolling Ray coined the term "purr" as a way of showing excitement or happiness towards someone or something. For example, on March 31st, 2020, YouTuber^[1] ergi posted a clip of Ray saying "purr," garnering over 57,000 views in two years (shown below, left). On April 25th, YouTuber^[2] Hoetona Muah posted a video of Ray saying "purr," garnering over 65,000 views in two years (shown below, right). earliest videos showing Ray using "purr" date back to 2020 (examples shown below).

Spread

On October 22nd, 2020, TikTok^[3] user @rachnextdoor posted a video of a now-deleted tweet by Ray where he uses Twitter's voice tweet feature to say, "Oh purr," garnering over 156,000 views in two years (shown below).

The original sound became popular over the following months in lip dubs where users express excitement over something through an on-screen caption. For example, on November 30th, TikToker^[4] @me_heavenli posted a video using the sound, garnering over 587,000 views in two years (shown below, left). On December 28th, TikToker^[5] @yeahmydixienormous posted a video to the sound, garnering over 223,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On March 9th, 2022, Distractify^[6] published an article explaining the term. On July 24th, TikToker^[7] @jakbitchybrown posted a video of a furry walking down the sidewalk with a briefcase, captioned, "Cats taking legal action for the misuse of 'purrr,'" garnering over 1.5 million views in a month (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References