Dictionary

TikTok en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɪkˌtɑk/ (General-American)
• /ˈtɪkˌtɒk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From tick-tock.

Meanings

1. (informal, neologism) A small video that can be viewed online, particularly one hosted on TikTok.
   • Imagine The Smiths or Joy Division making TikToks to promote their music. Think about Nick Cave or Joni Mitchell, and just imagine them negotiating with this bullshit. 2025 June 14, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, quoting James Blake, “James Blake’s fight against ‘free music’”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12:
   • How are these vaccine TikToks fooling so many people?
2. (informal) A TikTok account.
   • If you’ve never been on TikTok, we don’t recommend you start a TikTok just to promote your campaign. 2022, Carol Pinchefsky, quoting Oriana Leckert, Turn Your Fandom into Cash: A Geeky Guide to Turn Your Passion into a Business (or at Least a Side Hustle), Newburyport, Mass.: Career Press, Red Wheel/Weiser, llc, →ISBN:
   • We should start a TikTok for the drama department. […] We can do educational videos. Like, about the Poor Theatre, but with the dancing. 2024, Philippa Lawford, Cold Water, Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, →ISBN:
   • We wanted some press so we started a TikTok and other social media. 2024, Sinclair Jayne, The Cowboy Charm (The Coyote Cowboys of Montana), Tule Publishing, →ISBN:
   • So, instead of just trusting that Spotify is always gonna do right by you, have a Spotify, have an Apple Music, Instagram, have a Facebook, have a TikTok, have a YouTube, have a merch site, have a Patreon. 2024, Hannah Trigwell, quoting Jack Conte, “Distributing Music Digitally”, in Making It Happen: How to Create a Sustainable Career in the Music Industry, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, N.Y.: Focal Press, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN:
   • Start a TikTok and share your ideas, join a club or group, or audition for the play, etc. 2022, Stefanie Caponi, Guided Tarot for Teens: A Beginner’s Guide to Card Meanings, Spreads, and Trust in Your Intuition, New York, N.Y.: Zeitgeist Young Adult, Penguin Random House LLC, →ISBN:
   • “Are there any volunteers who would like to make their first video in front of everybody?” The first person who raised his hand was a dad in his late forties who had been a participant in our training school. I remember this guy because earlier in the training he had told me that his son had told him, “Dad, whatever you do, don’t start a TikTok.” 2022, Brian Barcelona, Don’t Scroll: Evangelism in the Digital Age, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Chosen Books, Baker Publishing Group, →ISBN:
   • If you look at the podcasting sphere, which was a way of voices that had been pushed to the margins to carve out a space, now it’s just a content farm and one more space people have to participate in, like how brands have to have a TikTok, a presence in all these different mediums. 2023, Claudia B. Manley with Abi Slone, Fashion Writing: A Primer, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN:

Forms

TikTok en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɪkˌtɑk/ (General-American)
• /ˈtɪkˌtɒk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From tick-tock.

Meanings

1. A video-sharing social media platform.

Deriveds

TikTokify · TikTokky · -Tok · TikTok soldier · Twit-Tok · TikToker · TikTokification

Synonyms

Douyin

Translations (17)

hy ՏիկՏոկ (app) · ti ቲክቶክ (app) · uk ТікТо́к (app) · vi TikTok (app) · ru ТикТо́к (app) · pt TikTok (app) · ko 틱톡 (app) · ja ティックトック (app) · pt Tico e Teco (app) · pl TikTok (app) · de Tiktok (app) · de TikTok (app) · cmn 洋抖 (app) · th ติ๊กต็อก (app) · ka ტიკტოკი (app) · cmn 抖音 (app) · hi टिकटॉक (app)

TikTok en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɪkˌtɑk/ (General-American)
• /ˈtɪkˌtɒk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From tick-tock.

Meanings

1. (neologism, transitive) To upload a video of something to TikTok.
   • It’s not often that one sees a mayor TikTok-ing and Instagramming such random activities, ranging from ice-cream making, to exercising, to a mini magic show. 2020 April 8, “Kauai mayor takes to TikTok”, in Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu, Hi., page A8, column 1:
   • But thanks to pandemic-shuttered TikTok-ing teens, the anthem with an urgent pulse and message of longing for closeness reignited the Liverpool export’s profile. 2020 December 25, Melissa Ruggieri, “12 of the best songs of 2020”, in The Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, Tex., section “Banners, “Someone to You”, page B3, column 5:
   • He got up and performed the first verse, and then walked through the door of the rotating, dioramic set — part Michel Gondry music video; part high school musical — and: It was BTS! Off they went: this black American whiz kid and these seven South Korean superstars TikTokked together. 2020 March 11, Wesley Morris, “Lil Nas X Is the King of the Crossover”, in The New York Times Magazine:
   • There’s nothing worse, after all, than male mutton dressed as lamb; or an old-style peacock dressed like a TikTok-ing Gen Z. 2019 November 29, Jonathan Heaf, “Confessions of a hypedad”, in ES Magazine, London, page 56, column 2:
   • Despite some unfortunate mixed messaging so far, government officials say they are well aware that there is an information war they need to win in order to beat Covid — and like these TikTok-ing doctors, they believe that social media is the key. 2020 November 24, Libby Galvin, “Misinformation and fear is vaccine’s ticking time bomb”, in Evening Standard, London, page 7:
2. (neologism, transitive) To search for and view on TikTok.

Forms

Relateds

Douyin