Mewing (noun / verb / internet trend)
(Also heard as: Mewing streak, Locked in mewing, Can’t talk I’m mewing)
Definition:
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Flattening your tongue against the roof of your mouth, aiming to sharpen your jawline and tweak your facial shape.
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The viral hand gesture where someone shushes you with an index finger, taps their jawline, and refuses to speak.
Pronunciation: /ˈmjuː.ɪŋ/
Where It Comes From: Named after British orthodontists John and Mike Mew, who pushed a fringe theory called “orthotropics”—the idea that proper tongue posture can reshape the jaw without braces or surgery. Online “looksmaxxing” forums picked it up in the late 2010s. By late 2023, TikTok turned it into an unavoidable schoolyard meme where kids used the jawline gesture to dodge questions from teachers and mates.
How People Actually Use It: Split right down the middle between people genuinely trying to carve out razor-sharp cheekbones and folk taking the absolute mick out of the whole obsession. You’ll catch teenagers doing the shush-and-point gesture in class to avoid reading out loud, or mates at the pub giving each other the silent treatment with a jaw tap as pure banter.
Examples in the Wild:
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“Asked him where we were going for lunch and he just pointed at his jaw—man’s fully mewing.”
Translation: He shushed me and made the jawline gesture instead of answering the question.
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“He reckons six months of mewing is going to give him a film-star jawline.”
Translation: He genuinely believes pressing his tongue against his palate will change his face shape.
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“Teacher asked him for his homework and he gave her the mewing finger; absolute stitch-up.”
Translation: He gave the teacher the silent jawline signal instead of handing in his schoolwork.
Similar Slang: Looksmaxxing, Mogging, Maxxing, Locked in, Chiselled, Stone-faced
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