What it doesn't mean
Urban Dictionary had entries for 'fleek' in 2003 and 2009. Newman has said the phrase came to her out of the blue; what is certain is that her video made it famous.
Brands borrowed it after it went viral. Newman's Vine came first, and she later said she got no recognition while everyone else used her phrase.
What it really means
Few slang phrases have a birthday. On fleek does: 21 June 2014, when a Chicago teenager, Kayla Newman, posted a six-second Vine admiring her freshly shaped eyebrows. "Eyebrows on fleek," she said, and within five months the clip had passed 20 million plays.
The phrase meant perfectly done: flawless, on point, exactly right. Eyebrows came first, then hair, outfits, nails and eventually anything at all. The word fleek wasn't brand new. Urban Dictionary had entries for it in 2003 and 2009, and Wiktionary suggests it may blend "fly" and "sleek". But Newman's video is what carried it into everyone's vocabulary.
Then came the brands. In October 2014 IHOP tweeted about "pancakes on fleek". In November Kim Kardashian used #EyebrowsOnFleek. The American Dialect Society nominated it in 2015 as "Most Likely to Succeed". Newman, meanwhile, later said that everyone used her phrase while she got no recognition for it; she wanted to trademark it and started a GoFundMe campaign for a cosmetics line of her own.
That brand rush is also part of why it died. Slang that a pancake chain is using is slang the people who made it have usually moved on from. Vine itself shut down in January 2017. Today on fleek surfaces mostly as a joke about the mid-2010s, while words such as slay or ate do its job.
Its legacy is the credit question. When a phrase can be traced to one person and one video, it's worth saying who.
Where it comes from
origin unknown; possibly a blend of 'fly' and 'sleek'
Urban Dictionary has entries for 'fleek' from 2003 ('smooth, nice, sweet') and 2009 ('awesome'), but the phrase broke out with one video in 2014.
- 2003
An Urban Dictionary entry defines 'fleek' as 'smooth, nice, sweet'.
- 21 June 2014
Chicago teenager Kayla Newman (Peaches Monroee) posts a Vine saying her eyebrows are 'on fleek'; it passes 20 million plays within five months.
- Autumn 2014
Brands and celebrities pick it up: IHOP tweets 'pancakes on fleek' in October, and Kim Kardashian uses #EyebrowsOnFleek in November.
- 2015
The American Dialect Society nominates it in its 'Most Likely to Succeed' category.
- January 2017
Vine, the app it came from, shuts down.
In real life
- 'Your eyebrows are on fleek' — the original compliment, now said mostly with a knowing smile.
- When IHOP tweeted 'pancakes on fleek' in October 2014, it was retweeted more than 27,000 times: the moment the phrase went corporate.
- 'Outfit on fleek, as we said in 2014' — the usual way the phrase turns up now: as a throwback.
Questions
Q01What does on fleek mean?
Perfectly done, flawless, on point. It was used most for eyebrows, hair and outfits.
Q02Who said 'on fleek' first?
The phrase was made famous by Kayla Newman, a Chicago teenager, in a Vine posted on 21 June 2014. Urban Dictionary entries for 'fleek' exist from 2003 and 2009, so the word itself is older.
Q03Do people still say on fleek?
Rarely, and usually ironically or as nostalgia for mid-2010s internet culture. Words such as 'slay' or 'ate' now do similar work.
Q04What happened to Vine?
Twitter stopped uploads in October 2016 and shut Vine down in January 2017.
Sources
- on fleek — Wiktionary (definition; AAVE label; Urban Dictionary 2003/2009; Newman's Vine, 21 June 2014).
- Eyebrows on Fleek — Know Your Meme (20 million plays; IHOP October 2014; Kardashian November 2014).
- on fleek — Dictionary.com slang (brands and celebrities; American Dialect Society 2015 nomination).
- Vine (service) — Wikipedia (uploads stopped October 2016, shut down January 2017; Newman's comments on recognition, trademark attempt and cosmetics fundraiser).