Wojak

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A simple, bald, sad-looking cartoon face widely shared online as a meme to express melancholy, regret or resignation
2. An internet meme character drawn as a balding, downcast face, used to convey feelings of sadness or disappointment
3. A crude, hairless cartoon figure with a mournful expression that circulates across forums and social media as an emotional reaction image

Etymology: The Wojak is a meme face most people now know as a bald, sad-looking cartoon man, but its name is a Polish word for a soldier. "Wojak" means "soldier" or "fighter" in Polish, and the Polish root sits behind a much older Slavic word, so the name carries a martial meaning that has nothing to do with the face it labels. The drawing itself first appeared in 2009 on vichan, a Polish imageboard. In 2010 it was reposted to krautchan, a German imageboard, by a Polish user who went by the handle "wojak." That username is what stuck, and the image became known by it, so the name was attached to the picture through a single online pseudonym rather than through any deliberate naming of the character.