the ick

What does the ick mean?

Getting the ick means your attraction to someone switches off, suddenly and often for a tiny reason. One minute you like them. Then they do something perfectly harmless, say, sprinting after a bus with their backpack bouncing, and you cannot unsee it.

Dictionary.com defines the ick as a sudden feeling of disgust or repulsion toward a dating partner someone was previously attracted to. It adds that the feeling can seem to come out of nowhere, though it often follows something the partner said or did. Know Your Meme puts it as the moment you picture or see the person you are dating do something that makes them undesirable.

The phrase works in a few set patterns:

• get the ick or catch the ick: "I got the ick when he called his mom 'mother'"
• give someone the ick: "people who say 'yummy' give me the ick"
• an ick, plural icks: "my biggest ick is bad spelling in texts"

That last form turned the ick into a genre. People post lists of their icks the way earlier generations listed pet peeves.

Though it began as dating talk, the word now stretches to anything mildly off-putting. A song, a font or a corporate slogan can give someone the ick.

Examples

• Group chat: "he ran to catch the bus and his backpack was bouncing. the ick was instant"
• TikTok caption: "icks that make no sense but are permanent, part 4"
• Dating app: "he opened with 'm'lady.' the ick, unfortunately"
• Reality TV watch party: "she's got the ick now. it's over, there's no coming back from that"
• Friend being honest about herself: "I get the ick when people clap after the plane lands. I know it's me"
• At work: "the new logo gives me the ick and I can't say why"
• Parent overhears: "You stopped liking him because of how he held his fork? You and your icks."

These examples show the ick is personal and a little unfair, and most people know it. Saying it is often half confession, half joke.

Where did the ick come from?

• 1995: "Ick factor" already worked as TV shorthand for something gross. Friends aired "The One with the Ick Factor" on May 4, 1995, Know Your Meme notes.
• 1998: In the Ally McBeal episode "Once in a Lifetime," which aired in February 1998, Ally uses "the ick" for a loss of attraction she cannot explain. Dictionary.com traces the dating sense to this episode, which repeated the phrase throughout. (Dictionary.com gives the year as 1999, but the show's episode list dates it to the first season, in 1998.)
• 2004: Sex and the City aired an episode called "The Ick Factor" on January 11, 2004.
• 2017: Contestant Olivia Attwood made the phrase famous on the British reality show Love Island. Mental Floss quotes her explaining that once you get the ick, it doesn't go. Know Your Meme finds a viewer tweeting about it on June 13, 2017.
• 2020: TikTok users began posting under #theick in June 2020, which Know Your Meme credits with making the term widely popular.
• 2023: Dictionary.com published its slang entry in September 2023.

The ick vs a red flag

People sometimes use these as if they were the same, but they answer different questions.

A red flag is about whether someone is safe or decent to be with. Lying, controlling behavior and cruelty are red flags, and they matter whether or not you still find the person attractive.

The ick is about attraction only. Many icks are about behavior that is completely fine: humming while eating, wearing a backpack with both straps, being too enthusiastic at a bowling alley. Nothing is wrong with the person. Something has simply gone wrong with the spark.

So a red flag deserves to be taken seriously, while an ick deserves a second look before you act on it.

Is the ick rude?

The phrase is clean and fine at school. The worst you can say about it is that "ick" is a bit childish, which is half the fun.

Where it can turn unkind is in the details. Posting a list of icks is harmless. Posting a list of icks clearly aimed at one classmate, or telling someone to their face that they give you the ick, can land as mockery. An ick is a feeling, not a verdict on someone's worth, and it helps to keep it that way. Parents of teens might notice it when a crush ends overnight for no visible reason. Usually, the ick is the reason.

How to reply to the ick

• A friend says "I got the ick": "Real ick or are you scared he actually likes you back?"
• A parent asks why you stopped seeing someone: "I got the ick. Nothing happened. He just chewed with his mouth open, and now I can't stop seeing it."
• A coworker says the new software gives them the ick: "Same. Pop-ups that say 'Oops!' are a universal ick."

Is the ick still used in 2026?

Very much. It is one of the most familiar pieces of dating slang in English, used sincerely by teens and twenty-somethings and knowingly by everyone else. The "my icks" list format keeps it circulating on TikTok, and it is still tied in many minds to Love Island. More of the vocabulary around it, from the talking stage to the situationship, is in the dating slang guide.