guides
What Does 'Big Back' Mean And How Did The Slang Become A TikTok Trend? The Bigbacked Trend Explained
The expression ‘big back’ has been taking over TikTok since April 2024 and it is dividing opinions on the short video platform.
TikTokers are constantly giving new meanings to old slangs and turning them into something funny or just plainly stupid, like Goffy Ahh, Zesty, Unc Status and many other examples.
Over the last few months, people have used the phrase ‘big back’ in comedy skit videos and memes. Let's understand what ‘big back’ means, and how it inspired the Bigbacked Trend on TikTok.
What Does 'Big Back' Mean?
A 'big back' was a slang term initially used by the British referring to big butts. In the case of the TikTok trend, 'big back' stems from the African American Vernacular English slang, which is used for obese people and mainly used here to mock people of their bad eating habits.
How Did The 'Big Back' Slang Inspired A Viral TikTok Trend?
The 'big back' trend started in April 2024 and usually features people pretending to have fat or obese backs by stuffing their clothes or pillows inside their shirts to post comedy content related to eating excessively. For example, TikTok user @jayda.waydah posted one of the earliest posts of the 'big back' trend, showing her baby stuffed with a pillow on her back and the text "My daughter's back when all the breast milk catches up to her."
It didn't take long for the trend to go viral on TikTok, as the sound used for the comedy skit videos reached more than 22,000 usages in just two weeks. The memes mainly consist of showing one’s eating habits or simply bad habits at home with parents or siblings. For instance, on April 6th, TikTok user @ninapalaciios posted a food-related comedic video with her siblings going to ask their mom to buy food for them.
The expression grew so much that even inspired a parody song created by thecincomedy YouTube channel in July 2024.
Why Is The 'Big Back Trend' Being Criticized?
As the big back trend grew popular on TikTok, some netizens started to point out that the slang term promotes fatphobia and body-shaming of people with larger body features. TikTok user @georgiarosecurves was one of many people voicing concerns about how fat people are being portrayed in the trend.
For the full history of Big Back Trend, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.