What Does “LOL” Mean? Origin, Usage, and Role in Modern Communication

“Lol” is one of the most common expressions in online messaging, used by millions of people around the world. This word has become an integral part of digital communication and is firmly established in youth slang. Let’s take a closer look at what this term means, where it came from, and how to use it correctly.

What does the word “lol” mean

LOL can be decoded in several ways: Laughing Out Loud, Laugh Out Loud, or Lots of Laughs. All three variants convey the same idea — expressing joy and laughter in written form. In modern internet culture, this word is used to indicate a reaction to something funny, amusing, or ironic. The popularity of the term is so great that in 2011 the acronym LOL was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary, confirming its significance in modern linguistics.

When and how to use “lol”

The use of this expression depends on the context and the communication situation. Let’s look at the main cases of usage:

Reaction to a joke or a funny situation

The primary purpose of the word is to show the other person that their joke made you laugh. For example, if a friend sends you a funny meme or tells a joke, replying with “lol” lets them know you appreciated the humor. In text conversations, it replaces live laughter and helps convey emotions through words.

Ironic or sarcastic usage

“Lol” is often used to express sarcasm or irony. In such cases, the word points to the unserious nature of the situation or emphasizes the absurdity of someone’s words. For example: “You forgot about the meeting again, lol” — here the term expresses annoyance with a touch of irony rather than genuine amusement.

Smoothing out awkward moments

Sometimes “lol” helps defuse a tense atmosphere or soften criticism. Adding this word makes the message less serious and reduces the chance that the other person will take offense.

Enhancing the effect

To show stronger laughter, the word is often stretched: “loooool,” “lolol,” or used in derivative forms like “lols,” “lolus,” or “lil.” The longer the stretch, the stronger the degree of amusement. Such variations are often accompanied by appropriate emojis to enhance the effect.

History of the term

The evolution of expressing laughter in texts

Representing laughter in written form has a long history. The onomatopoeic “hehe” appears as early as the works of the Anglo-Saxon monk Ælfric of Eynsham, who lived in the 10th–11th centuries. By the 14th century, the medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer was already using “haha” in his writings, and in the works of William Shakespeare one can find expressions such as “ha, ha, he”. Historically, these forms were used to convey emotions in literature and theatrical plays.

The emergence of LOL in the digital era

The acronym LOL first appeared in the early 1980s among Canadian users of Bulletin Board Systems, the predecessors of modern internet forums. These systems required connections via telephone networks, and communication took place in text format. Users began creating abbreviations to speed up conversations and save time when typing messages. By the mid-1990s, thanks to its brevity and versatility, the term spread across the English-speaking internet. With the development of messengers and instant messaging services, the popularity of the acronym increased sharply. Interestingly, according to a 2003 study conducted by a group of students, the use of internet slang was lower than expected. Out of 2,185 analyzed messages, acronyms appeared only 90 times, with 76 of them being LOL. However, by 2008 another study showed that the use of internet slang had grown to 2.4 percent of the total number of words.

The origin of the word “kek” and its connection to “lol”

“Kek” is one of the synonyms of “lol” and has an interesting origin story. The term originated in the gaming community and is associated with the computer game StarCraft. Because the game did not support the Korean language, players from Korea expressed laughter using the English letters “kekeke”, which phonetically conveyed the sound of laughter in their language. Later, the term migrated to another popular online game, World of Warcraft. In this game, players were divided into two opposing factions: the Horde and the Alliance. Players from different sides could not communicate directly — their messages were filtered and transformed into a set of letters. When a Horde member wrote LOL, an Alliance player would see KEK on the screen. Through the imageboard 4chan, the term spread beyond the gaming community and entered English-language internet slang. “Kek” gained particular popularity in 2016 during the US presidential election, when right-wing activists used it in memes featuring Pepe the Frog depicted as the ancient Egyptian god Kek. However, by the early 2020s, the popularity of this term declined, and today it is used much less frequently.

The role of “lol” in modern communication

The widespread use of the term is directly linked to the development of internet culture and the ubiquitous use of messengers. Text-based communication often lacks emotional nuance, and acronyms like “lol,” “rofl,” or “kek,” along with emojis, help clearly signal to the other person that you understood the joke and reacted to it. These expressions have become an important tool of digital communication, making conversations more lively and emotional. They compensate for the absence of nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, intonation, or gestures that are present in face-to-face interaction. Today, “lol” has gone beyond the internet and is used in everyday speech, films, books, and other media. The term has become a full-fledged part of the modern language, especially among younger generations, and continues to evolve alongside the development of digital technologies and communication methods.