What Does Giving (& Getting) the Side-Eye Mean?

What does it mean when you get the side-eye?

It means someone is looking at you with suspicion. It can also communicate shock, scorn, doubt, or criticism. Ultimately, a person giving a side-eye is judging the person they’re looking at. Since it’s not a direct criticism, many people read the facial expression as passive-aggressive. While many people give a side-eye spontaneously, they may also do it to make others laugh. Some people also use the side-eye expression while frowning to communicate general grumpiness.

How & When to Use a Side-Eye

Look at someone from the corner of your eye without turning to them. Because you haven’t turned your head, you’re looking at them from the side of your eye, which is how the expression got its name. It’s also referred to as a sidelong glance. Give someone the side-eye when you disapprove of their words or actions. For example: “My brother has never once picked up his dirty clothes off the floor, so when he said he would help with the laundry, I gave him the side-eye.” “I gave her the side-eye after the third time she interrupted the story I was trying to tell.” “Mindy told everyone she saw Emily at a diner with a guy who wasn’t her boyfriend. I gave her the side-eye and said it was Emily’s brother back from the Navy.”

Type a side-eye emoji ???? to someone. If someone has sent you a text or posted on social media bout something you don’t approve of, use a side-eye emoji to show your scorn or shock over their words. There are a few emoji options that many associate with the side-eye. “My sister said she was going to the library, but Mom texted me ???? when she walked out in heels.” “He texted our group chat that he was able to finish that entire project in 2 hours. I just replied with ????.” “She played that Sabrina Carpenter song 3 times in a row. One more time and she’s getting a criminal offensive ????.”

Post an image, GIF, or meme of someone giving a side-eye. Posting side-eye memes as a response on social media is a good way to express your doubt, surprise, or criticism of a subject. There are a wide variety of side-eye images to choose from to get your point across. “Jay posted his girlfriend was a model, so she wanted to keep their relationship low-key with a picture of Kaia Gerber, so I commented with a picture of that monkey puppet giving a side-eye.” “She posted a picture of Side-eyeing Chloe with the caption: It’s not even October yet, and I just heard “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at Target.” “Emma just went to the bathroom and the woman in the stall next to her was on the phone with her boyfriend fighting at top volume. She sent me a GIF of a dog giving serious side-eye.”

Side-Eye Memes

Side-Eyeing Chloe Side-Eyeing Chloe is based on a screen capture from a YouTube video parents, David and Katie Clem, took on September 12, 2013, while telling their two daughters about a trip to Disneyland. The older daughter, Lily, was so happy she burst into tears. The younger daughter, named Chloe, gave her sister a disapproving side-eye. Five days later, a user on Tumblr made GIFs based on the video. These GIFs appeared in a Buzzfeed post titled, “Girl Reacting To Disneyland Is The Only Reaction You’ll Need For Anything Ever.” Tumblr users swapped the faces in pictures of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Lady GaGa with Chloe’s. In 2021, the Clems minted an NFT using the Side Eyeing Chloe photo and auctioned it off for 25 Ethereum. At the time, 1 Ethereum was equal to about $3,062 USD, meaning the NFT sold for around $76,550.

Awkward Look Monkey Puppet Two images of Kenta, the monkey puppet from the Japanese children’s show Ōkiku Naru Ko, were combined to create the appearance of a side-eye. In the first image, Kenta awkwardly glances toward the viewer, and then he looks away again in the second. The puppet didn’t give the side-eye in the show, the meme was photoshopped by Daniel Flores when he made it in 2016. The image originally spread in Spanish meme communities because the Japanese show was dubbed into Spanish and aired in Latin America in the 1980s. The meme didn’t go viral until 2019 after a user shared a tweet featuring the meme on Reddit.

Bombastic Side-Eye The Bombastic Side-Eye is a trend on TikTok featuring a viral audio recording many people have added to their post videos. In the recording, a TikTok user said, “side eyes” twice, using different tones of voice each time. Others add the audio to videos of themselves reacting to funny, controversial, or uncomfortable situations. Bombastic side-eye means the same thing as side-eye. It’s the dirty look someone gives to show disgust, disapproval, or judgment for another person. “Criminal offensive side-eye” is another term used on TikTok that means the same thing as “side-eye” and “bombastic side-eye.” A new version of the meme with the audio “bombastic side-eye, criminal offensive side-eye” began to circulate on TikTok in late January 2023.

Side-Eye Emoji

This emoji features eyes looking to one side. There are a few different emojis that users interpret as being the side-eye emoji. All feature one or two eyes looking to one side. One is the eyes emoji ????, an image of two eyes looking to the left. Use the eyes emoji to express judgment, disbelief, or disapproval. The unamused face emoji ???? is a frowning yellow face with eyes looking to the right. It communicates skepticism, grumpiness, and irritation. There are reports that users have requested that Apple create a side-eye emoji with a yellow face. The emoji is turned to the side so only one eye and the side of the mouth are visible. The eye is looking sideways at the viewer.

Origins of Side-Eye

The term dates back to the late 1700s. It appeared in the phrase “looked upon with a side eye” in a periodical from 1797 called Remembrancer For Lord’s Day Evenings. James Joyce also used the phrase in his novel Ulysses in the passage, “A side eye at my Hamlet hat. If I were suddenly naked here as I sit? I am not.” Shakespeare called this sideways gaze of disapproval “looking askance” in The Taming of the Shrew. He also used “Most true it is that I have look’d on truth askance and strangely…” in Sonnet 110.