ぴえん (pien)

What it means

1. 1.

   A small, performed sadness — the spoken equivalent of the 🥺 face. Used for disappointments nobody expects you to take seriously: sold-out cake, rain on a day off.

   Peaked around 2020 and now reads as slightly dated, or as deliberately childish. Used earnestly by adults it is faintly embarrassing.

Examples with translations

• 推しのライブ落選した、ぴえん。

  Missed out in the ballot for my favourite's gig 🥺

• 財布忘れてぴえん超えてぱおん。

  Forgot my wallet — beyond 🥺, straight to 😭

  Note: ぱおん, an elephant trumpet, was the escalated form. Firmly of its moment.

Where it comes from

An onomatopoeia for whimpering, popularised by teenage girls on TikTok and Twitter around 2019 and named one of Japan's buzzwords of 2020.

First attested: 2019

Other forms

Romanised as:

pien