LOL

See also: lol, Lol, LoL, and -lol

English

Alternative forms

• (laughing out loud) lol, lawl, lel, lul
• (lots of laughs) lols, LOLS
• (light-heartedness) lolsies, LOLsies, lolzies
• (?) lulz

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɛl.əuˈɛl/, /lɔːl/, /lɒl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɛl.oʊˈɛl/, /lɔl/, /lɑl/, /loʊl/, /lol/
• Rhymes: -ɛl, -ɔːl, -ɒl

Interjection

LOL

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Laughing (or laugh) out loud.
2. (Internet slang, text messaging) Lots of laughs. (occasionally used)
3. (Internet slang, text messaging, by dilution) Indicates light-heartedness or amusement, or that the accompanying statement is not intended as serious.
4. (letter-writing, dated) Lots of love.
   • 2002 November 29, Me Here, “Latest Rugby Poll.”, in nz.general, Usenet:

     SHEESH !!!! ¶ LOL (Laugh out loud) &&&& ¶ LOL (Lots of love, coz I'm a sharing caring kinda gal) ¶ Nikki

   • 2007, Adam Gopnik, Through the Children's Gate, →ISBN:

     Explaining how much I hated being away from him for another weekend, how I had to do it to pay for his school, for our life. Heartfelt, heart-full, I signed it "LOL, Dad.". Then a pause. And I see appearing on my screen these words. "Dad: what exactly do you think LOL means?" "Lots of Love, obviously," I replied.

   • 2010, Keturah Wasler, Box of Chocolates: Piece from My Heart, →ISBN, page 20:

     The answer is in Job 40:7 to the end of the chapter, and 2 tim 2:11 thru 2:21. LOL, Dad Miscommunication: I was thinking he was laughing he didn't tell that was not true. An on-looker said he may mean lots of love. I asked and he didn't answer but he hugged me the next time he saw me for two seconds. Progress not perfection.

   • 2011, Rhonda K. Kindig, Found in Translation, →ISBN, page 105:

     John 21:15, 16,17 Back in the fifties, when I used to write childish letters in long-hand to my grandmothers, I would delight in closing with LOL, by which I intended the sentiment "Lots of Love"! This was followed by "XOXOXOXO", which, of course, was hugs and kisses.

   • 2014 May 28, Stuart Heritage, “25 years of LOL – the good and bad bits”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     One of the most famous examples of this misunderstanding came to prominence three years ago, thanks to a screengrab of this text message sent by a mother to her son: "Your great aunt just passed away. LOL".

Translations

expression of laughter

• Arabic: هَهَه‎ (hahah), خُخُخ‎ (ḵuḵuḵ), هَاهَا‎ (hāhā), لُول‎ (lūl)
• Bulgarian: бгггггг (bgggggg)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 233 (zh) (chiefly mainland China), 哈哈哈

• Danish: LOL (da), lol
• Dutch: lol (nl), LOL (nl)
• Esperanto: mdr
• Estonian: irw
• Finnish: lol (fi), reps (fi), naur, huutista
• French: mdr (fr), lol (fr), ptdr (fr), cqcd (Canada)
• Georgian: ლოლ (lol), lol (lol)
• German: lol (de)
• Hebrew: לול‎ (he) (lol), ההה‎, חחח‎ (he)
• Hindi: LOL (LOL)
• Hungarian: lol, hfn (hangosan felnevet)
• Icelandic: lol, híhí
• Indonesian: wkwkwk (id)
• Interlingua: lol
• Irish: GOA
• Italian: lol
• Jamaican Creole: DWL

• Japanese: w (ja), www, ワラ (wara), （笑） (ja) (わらい, warai, しょう, shō, わら, wara, かっこ わらい, kakkowarai, かっこ しょう, kakkoshō, かっこ わら, kakkowara), 草 (ja) (kusa)
• Korean: ㅋㅋ (ko) (kk), ㅋ (ko) (k), ㅎㅎ (hh)
• Latin: corrideō
• Latvian: ha ha
• Lithuanian: cha cha cha
• Navajo: dloh, ayóo íítsʼaʼgo anáshdloh, AIA, dagó anáshdlohgo shitłʼaaʼ nʼdiiltsʼid
• Nigerian Pidgin: lwkmd
• Norwegian: lol
• Persian: خخخ‎ (khekhekhe), ههه‎ (hahah), mkm‎ (Afghanistan)
• Polish: lol (pl)
• Portuguese: rs (pt), kkk (pt)
• Romanian: lol
• Russian: лол (ru) (lol), ржёт (ru) (ržot) , Ы (ru) (Y), ржунимагу́ (ru) (ržunimagú) , испацту́ла (ispactúla) , пацтало́м (pactalóm) (most expressions are in "padonki" style, deliberately distorted spellings)
• Shona: kkkk
• Somali: kkkk
• Spanish: lol, reva, jajajá
• Swedish: lol (sv), asg (sv) (asgarva (sv))
• Tagalog: jejeje
• Thai: 555 (th) (555) (ห้าๆๆ (th) (hâa-hâa-hâa)
• Ukrainian: бгггггг (bhhhhhh)
• Vietnamese: vl, vãi LOL, VCL, VKL, hj hj, hihihi, kekeke, kakaka, kk
• Yoruba: ẹ̀rín kèékèé, ẹ̀rín kk

denotes light-heartedness or unseriousness

• Czech: lol

• Finnish: lol (fi), naur, reps (fi)

Usage notes

Typically, lowercase "lol" is used for the diluted sense of the word (to indicate light-heartedness), while uppercase "LOL" is used more literally.

Especially the lowercase lol is sometimes reduplicated, in such a manner as "lololol", "lolololol", etc. for further emphasis on the laughter.

Verb

LOL (third-person singular simple present LOLs, present participle LOLing, simple past and past participle LOLed or LOLd or LOL'd)

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) To laugh out loud.

Noun

LOL (plural LOLs)

1. (US, British commonwealth, Ireland) Loyal Orange Lodge, a prefix given to all branches of the Loyal Orange Order. For example, LOL 1 is Portadown branch.
2. (informal, sometimes derogatory) Little old lady.
   • 2018, Jeanne Marie Laskas, To Obama, With love, joy, hate and despair, →ISBN, page 29:

     Then he started with his LOLs. The Little Old Ladies who needed help with daily chores.

See also

• IPML
• lawl
• LMAO
• LOL in NAD
• LOLWUT
• LOLZ
• lulz
• ROFL
• ROTFL
• ROFLMAO
• ROTFLMAO

References

• [2] UK house of commons discussing a Loyal Orange Lodge.

Anagrams

• LLO, OLL

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Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English LOL.

Interjection

LOL

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) LOL (expression of laughter)

Alternative forms

• lol
• lål (rare)

References

• “LOL” in Den Danske Ordbog

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Portuguese

Interjection

LOL

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) LOL

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:LOL.