creepypasta

See also: creepypastą

English

Etymology

After the pattern of copypasta, substituting creepy for copy. Originated from 4chan’s /x/ (paranormal) board sometime around 2007. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der.

Proto-Germanic *kreupaną

Proto-West Germanic *kreupan

Old English crēopan

Middle English crepen

English creep

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Germanic *-gaz

Proto-West Germanic *-g

Old English -iġ

Middle English -y

English -y

English creepy

Middle English copien

English copy

Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁t-der.

Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō)

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Ancient Greek -τός (-tós)

Ancient Greek παστός (pastós)

Ancient Greek παστά (pastá)bor.

Late Latin pasta

Old French pastebor.

Middle English paste

English paste

English copy-pasteblend.

Late Latin pasta

Italian pastabor.

English pastablend.

English copypasta

English creepypasta

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹiːpiˌpæstə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹipiˌpɑstə/
• (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹiːpiˌpeɪstə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

creepypasta (countable and uncountable, plural creepypastas)

1. (Internet slang) Frightening urban legends and short stories in the horror genre, circulated on the Internet.
   • 2010 November 14, “Bored at Work? Try Creepypasta, or Web Scares”, in The New York Times, Austin Considine:

     The video is part of a growing phenomenon making its way around message boards and e-mail chains called “creepypasta” — bite-sized bits of scariness that have joined the unending list of things-to-do-when-you’re-bored-at-work.

   • 2012 September 14, Kaz Scattergood, “Spooked by Slender, Fuse (Sheffield Students' Union)”, in magazine‎^[1], volume 9, number 49, page 2:

     The game was born from the familiar 'Slenderman' image, which you may or may not be familiar with from internet memes and creepypasta horror stories.

   • 2013 September, “Huntsman: The Orphanage”, in Adventure Lantern‎^[2], number 46, page 7:

     " […] Listen to the nineteen personal creepypasta-style stories to piece together the mysterious events of that fateful night in 1898, when twelve orphans simply… disappeared!"

   • 2013 November 14, Joey Dussault, “The 10 Best Original Soundtracks In The Gaming World”, in Tastemakers Magazine (Northeastern University)‎^[3], number 33, page 11:

     The eerie “Lavender Town” theme has infiltrated the nightmares of an entire generation of children and has even inspired one of the most well known “creepypastas” on the Internet.

   • 2015 August 24, Lisa Miller, “Slender Man Is Watching”, in New York Magazine, page 62:

     A friend pointed her to Creepypasta, a collection of user-generated horror fan sites in which written, Photoshopped, and videotaped accounts of encounters with monsters and supernatural evil are presented as “real” in the form of encyclopedia entries, testimonials, and other “documentary” evidence.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:creepypasta.

Hypernyms

• scarelore

Descendants

• → Polish: creepypasta
• → Spanish: creepypasta

Translations

Translations

• Esperanto: timigenhavo
• Macedonian: крипипа́ста f (kripipásta)
• Polish: creepypasta (pl) f
• Russian: крипипа́ста (ru) f (kripipásta)
• Spanish: creepypasta f

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English creepypasta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kri.piˈpas.ta/
• Rhymes: -asta
• Syllabification: cree‧py‧pas‧ta

Noun

creepypasta f

1. (Internet slang) creepypasta (frightening urban legends and short stories circulated on the Internet)

Declension

Declension of creepypasta

	singular	plural
nominative	creepypasta	creepypasty
genitive	creepypasty	creepypast
dative	creepypaście	creepypastom
accusative	creepypastę	creepypasty
instrumental	creepypastą	creepypastami
locative	creepypaście	creepypastach
vocative	creepypasto	creepypasty

Further reading

• creepypasta at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English creepypasta.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌkɾi.piˈpas.tɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌkɾi.piˈpas.tɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˌkɾi.piˈpaʃ.tɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌkɾi.piˈpas.ta/

• Rhymes: -astɐ
• Hyphenation: cree‧py‧pas‧ta

Noun

creepypasta f (plural creepypastas)

1. (Internet slang) creepypasta (horror stories originating on the internet, usually written by anonymous authors with the aim of being replicated until they go viral)
   • 2024 March 24, Millena dos Santos Siqueira, Creepypasta: você sabe o que é esse tipo de história?‎^[4]:

     As creepypastas surgiram como uma evolução do folclore digital moderno. Essas histórias começaram a ganhar popularidade no início dos anos 2000, quando fóruns e sites de compartilhamento de histórias, como o 4chan e o Reddit, proporcionaram plataformas para que os usuários compartilhassem narrativas de terror originais.

     Creepypastas emerged as an evolution of modern digital folklore. These stories began to gain popularity in the early 2000s, when forums and story-sharing sites such as 4chan and Reddit provided platforms for users to share narratives of the original Horror.

   • 2018 August 24, Momo, Slender Man e outras lendas da internet... O que é Creepypasta e como ela invadiu a cultura pop?‎^[5]:

     A releitura dessas tramas com personagens macabros assustadores feita pela "geração selfie" chama-se Creepypasta.

     The reinterpretation of these plots with scary macabre characters made by the "selfie generation" is called Creepypasta.

   • 2012 July 1, O que é Creepypasta? Descubra tudo sobre elas!‎^[6]:

     Algumas Creepypastas são impressionantes e conseguem entreter e fazer com que caia na boca do povo fazendo todo mundo falar, afinal muita gente gosta de uma historinha de terror e quer compartilhar aquilo, enquanto outras são mal escritas, às vezes porque o autor não tem capacidade criativa e às vezes porque o exagero chega ao ponto do ridículo quebrando todo o clima e fazendo a pessoa falar "Ah ta, então o teletubbie maldito matou a vizinhança dele toda, aham...".

     Some Creepypastas are impressive and manage to entertain and make people talk, after all, many people like a horror story and want to share it, while others are poorly written, sometimes because the author lacks creative capacity. and sometimes because the exaggeration reaches the point of ridiculousness, breaking the whole atmosphere and making the person say "Ah, so the damn teletubbie killed his whole neighborhood, huh...".

See also

• copypasta

 

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English creepypasta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɾipiˈpasta/ [kɾi.piˈpas.t̪a]
• IPA^(key): /kɾepiˈpasta/ [kɾe.piˈpas.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -asta
• Syllabification: cree‧py‧pas‧ta

Noun

creepypasta f (plural creepypastas)

1. creepypasta

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.