What Does IKR Mean? | Meaning & Use
IKR stands for “I know, right?” and shows strong agreement.
It is a casual initialism often used in texting and chat to show someone you agree with what they’ve said.
So why not just say “I know” (IK)? In writing, where tone can be hard to discern, “I know” can come across as if the person didn’t need to say what they said because you already know it. This might seem rude if they were venting or looking for empathy rather than just sharing information. Adding “right?” to the end is literally asking if they agree, a question that is unnecessary but shows you care about the other person’s perspective.
IKR is for casual use only, so there are no rules about using punctuation with it or capitalizing it. Although the phrase it stands for is correctly written with a question mark, it’s fine to write IKR without a question mark.
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IKR meaning in text
In text messaging, IKR usually shows that someone agrees, and it takes on the tone set by the person it’s responding to. The person who writes IKR may be agreeing with a positive feeling or commiserating with a negative feeling.
With IKR, the shared view is more than simple agreement. It’s enthusiastic, unreserved agreement.
Person 2: IKR! The gulab jamun is like little pieces of heaven
Sometimes IKR agrees with someone showing relief.
Person 2: ikr. Think I did ok on it
Another possible meaning of IKR is agreement with surprise.
Person 2: Omg ikr! She came a long way and it was so great to see her
It can also agree with someone showing a negative feeling, such as disgust or annoyance.
Person 2: God, IKR. He should try some of those tips himself and be quiet
IKR can agree with sarcasm, too. In the example below, the first person is joking, saying something they don’t really mean, and the person who answers “IKR” understands that and adds to the joke.
Person 2: ikr? She’s the teammate we all dreamed of
IKR meaning in chat
In a chat, IKR has the same meaning as in text. IKR may be appropriate for some chat settings, but not others. For example, it’s common on gaming platforms.
Person 2: Yeah, ikr? took me like a week
Other examples of IKR
Besides in text messaging and chatting, you might see people using IKR on social media or in memes that people share online.
As previously mentioned, IKR is great for casual conversation but it’s not typically used for professional and academic writing. While your writing can still be conversational at work, IKR is much more casual than common abbreviations like EOD and FYI. In academia, where writing is very structured, it’s best to stick to formal language.
For those work emails, business documents, and academic papers, you may not be able to use IKR, but you can use QuillBot to make sure that what you’ve written is clear, correct, and convincing. Try our free Proofreader, Spell Checker, Summarizer, and more.
