What Is the Ick?
The ick is a sudden, intense feeling of disgust or repulsion toward someone you were previously attracted to. One moment you're into them, and then they do one specific thing — something often small and irrational — and suddenly you can't look at them the same way. The vibe is dead. Romance is deceased. You have the ick.
It's completely involuntary. You can't logic your way out of it. Once the ick hits, it's usually game over.
Where Did the Ick Come From?
The term was popularized by the UK reality show Love Island — contestant Olivia Attwood used it in 2017 to describe her sudden loss of attraction to a fellow contestant. The concept resonated SO hard that "the ick" became standard dating vocabulary.
TikTok ran with it, and by 2021-2022, sharing your icks became a whole genre of content. People would list the most unhinged, specific things that gave them the ick, and the comments would be either "SAME" or "you need therapy."
How to Use the Ick
- Describing it: "He ran to catch the bus and I got the ick. I know it's irrational. I don't care."
- Listing icks: "My ick list: slow walkers, men who use 😂 unironically, and anyone who calls me 'buddy.'"
- Warning friends: "Be careful, once the ick hits you cannot come back from it."
Examples in the Wild
"he sneezed weird and now I have the ick. we were together for 8 months. it's over."
"the ick is your subconscious telling you something your conscious mind won't accept"
Why It Matters
The ick is fascinating because it reveals how fragile attraction can be. Some psychologists suggest the ick is actually a defense mechanism — your brain finding reasons to pull away when you're scared of vulnerability. Others say it's just... having standards. Either way, the ick is real, it's powerful, and once it's there, good luck unfeeling it.