What does ‘KEK’ mean on Twitch? Who is the laughing guy in the Twitch emote?

You’ve probably seen “KEK” or “KEKW” on social media lately. But if you’re not plugged into geek culture, its meaning may be a mystery to you.

The term has become popular in Twitch chats and is one of its most popular emotes. However, “KEK” didn’t originate on Twitch. The acronym is actually from World of Worldcraft (WoW).

What does “KEK” mean?

In WoW, when players see chat messages between the members of an opposing team, the words appear cryptically. It just so happens that when one team sends “LOL,” the enemy team sees “KEK.”

People began to say KEK instead of LOL outside of WoW — in places like Reddit, Twitter and Twitch.

What is a Twitch emote?

Emotes are like emojis, or shrunken GIFs, used in Twitch chat. Users can access them through drop-down menus or write out a code to generate the image.

Some emotes are available to all users, while others might be specific to certain chats.

What does “KEKW” mean on Twitch chat?

“KEKW” is an activation code that’s a riff on “KEK.” When a user types in “KEKW,” it generates the image of a laughing man.

However, this emote is only available to users who have the BTTV or FrankerFaceZ add-on installed on their browser. Each add-on expands Twitch’s features.

Who is the laughing man in the “KEKW” Twitch emote?

The laughing man is the late Spanish comedian El Risitas, hysterically laughing in a television segment.

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