This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
What does XD mean?
XD is a text emoticon that signifies strong laughter. It is used in chats, comments, and social media when someone wants to show that something was very funny.
For example:
— I just spent half an hour looking for my glasses, and they were on my head the whole time. — XD
or
This video is just XD.
In this context, XD can be read as:
- “very funny”;
- “I'm laughing”;
- “I can't stop laughing.”
Unlike LOL or LMAO, XD is not an abbreviation but a text emoticon.
Why XD?
The popularity of this emoticon is explained very simply — it resembles the face of a person who is laughing loudly.
- X represents tightly closed eyes.
- D is a wide-open mouth.
That’s why XD conveys a stronger laugh than the usual :) or :D.
Sometimes XD is mistakenly referred to as kaomoji. In fact, these are different types of text emoticons.
Kaomojis came from Japan and consist of a large number of characters, for example:
(^_^) (≧▽≦) (ಥ‿ಥ)
They do not need to be rotated to see the face.
XD, on the other hand, belongs to Western ASCII emoticons, which were created using regular keyboard characters.
The history of XD
The exact author of the XD emoticon is unknown. Like most early text emoticons, it appeared gradually as internet users began to look for ways to convey emotions using regular keyboard characters.
The very first text emoticons emerged back in the 1980s. One of the most famous was :-), proposed by American computer science professor Scott Fahlman in 1982. The idea quickly took hold, and eventually, users began to come up with dozens of new combinations of characters.
XD gained popularity a bit later — in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was actively used in IRC chats, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, on forums, and early gaming servers. At that time, emojis did not yet exist, so text emoticons were the primary way to convey mood during correspondence.
Over time, XD became so popular that it was even used without any text. A single message with two characters was enough for the interlocutor to understand: the person is laughing a lot.
After the advent of smartphones and emojis, the popularity of XD somewhat decreased; however, the emoticon did not disappear. It can still be seen on Discord, Twitch, Reddit, online games, and many internet communities, especially among people who have been using the internet since the early 2000s.
How is XD used today?
In the early 2000s, XD almost always meant sincere and very strong laughter. If a person sent such an emoticon, it was roughly equivalent to the modern 😂 or 🤣.
Today, its meaning has become a bit broader.
Depending on the situation, XD can convey:
- sincere laughter;
- light self-irony;
- friendly joking;
- comical embarrassment;
- a reaction to a silly or absurd situation.
For example:
— I forgot the password to my password manager. — XD
Here, the interlocutor is not necessarily “laughing to tears.” Rather, he is showing that the situation looks very funny.
That’s why today XD is used not only as a designation of laughter but also as an emotional reaction that helps make a message less serious and more friendly.
XD, LOL, or LMAO: what’s the difference?
At first glance, all these designations mean laughter, but there is one important difference between them.
XD is a text emoticon that depicts an emotion.
LOL, LMAO, and ROFL are English abbreviations that describe the laughter itself.
Why has XD become less popular?
Despite the fact that XD is still well recognized, it is used significantly less today than it was 15–20 years ago.
The main reason is simple — text emoticons have been almost completely replaced by emojis.
If before, users had to create emotions from regular keyboard symbols, now it is enough to press one button and choose 😄, 😆, or 🤣.
Internet memes have also changed. In modern social networks, especially on TikTok and X (Twitter), instead of laughing emoticons, other emojis that were not originally related to humor are increasingly used.
For example:
- 💀 (“I died laughing”);
- 😭 (“I’m crying from laughter”).
Despite this, XD has not disappeared. It is still actively used on Discord, Twitch, Reddit, online games, and communities where the culture of the early internet has been preserved.
For many users, this emoticon has become not just a way to convey laughter but a kind of symbol of the “old internet” — the times of forums, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and early chats.
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