What does XD mean in texting?

It's a laughing face turned on its side. The X is eyes squeezed shut and the D is an open mouth. It means you find something really funny, like lol with more volume. It isn't an acronym and doesn't stand for anything.

Harder laughing. Each extra D stretches the laugh, so XDDD is the text version of losing it completely.

Some English speakers find it dated, a habit from the 2000s, and use it as a joke. It's still sincere in gaming chat and in Spanish-language and other non-English chats. So it depends on who you're talking to.

Not by itself. It's a laugh, so it's playful at most. In a flirty chat it can add warmth, the same way a laughing emoji would. The context decides, not the two letters.

How do you pronounce XD?

Mostly you don't, since it's typed, not said. Read aloud, it's the two letters, "ex dee." Spanish speakers say "equis de," and the joke spelling "ecks dee" comes from the same reading.

Is XD the same as Adobe XD?

No. Adobe XD is design software, Cinemark XD is a large-format cinema screen, and Pokémon XD is a 2005 GameCube game. The laughing face shares the letters and nothing else.

XD

[ eks-DEE ] /ˌɛksˈdi/ (usually typed, not said; letter by letter)

interjection · also used as emoticon (read sideways: X for eyes, D for mouth)

XD is a sideways laughing face: the X is eyes squeezed shut and the D is a wide-open mouth. It means you're laughing hard, like a louder "lol."

XD has 4 meanings. Jump to: [Laughing hard] [Turned up or down] [Teasing or ironic] [Not Adobe XD]

type interjection since 2003 seen on gaming, discord, texting, twitch, youtube status classic

Can you still say it?

XD is a classic: old, stable, and understood by just about everyone. Safe to say, and likely always will be.

What does XD mean?

1.
Laughing hard: Turn your head left and the X becomes eyes squeezed shut, the D a mouth wide open. Typed after a funny message, or sent alone, it means you're really laughing. It is a face, not an acronym.
2.
Turned up or down: Extra D's make it louder, so XDDD means you've lost it. Many people read xD as softer and lowercase xd as flatter or more offhand, though plenty treat all three the same.
3.
Teasing or ironic: After someone's mistake, XD can tease: "you missed that shot XD." Some English speakers now type it knowingly, as a wink at 2000s internet style.
4.
Not Adobe XD: Adobe XD is design software, Cinemark XD is a large-format cinema screen, and Pokémon XD and Disney XD are a game and a TV channel. None of them are the laughing face.

XD is a face, not an acronym. Tilt your head to the left: the X is a pair of eyes squeezed shut, and the D is a mouth wide open mid-laugh. Together it's someone cracking up. It does the same job as lol or a crying-laughing emoji, only louder.

The shape is adjustable, which is half the fun. Extra D's push it further, so XDDD is laughing until it hurts. Case changes the feel too. Many people read a capital XD as the full laugh, xD as a softer or cuter one, and a lowercase xd as flat or deadpan. Plenty of others treat all three the same.

Tone needs care. Sent after someone else's bad news or embarrassing mistake, XD can read as laughing at them, not with them. Among friends that's banter. With a stranger or a coworker, it can sting.

In English-speaking chats, XD now carries a 2000s feel. It was everywhere in forums, early social media and game chat, and some people type it today with a wink, as nostalgia. That isn't the whole picture. It is still sincere and everyday in gaming chat and across Spanish-language and other non-English internet spaces. In fact it is more popular outside English-speaking countries than inside them.

Next to its neighbors, the roles are clear. Gg closes a match, smh shakes its head, and XD laughs out loud.

Where did XD come from?

XD belongs to the family of sideways text faces. The family began when Scott Fahlman proposed the first smiley in September 1982, a :-) to mark jokes on a Carnegie Mellon message board. That is family history only. Nothing ties XD itself to 1982, and no one is on record as its inventor.

The exact origin is unclear. An Urban Dictionary entry was already defining XD as a laughing face in March 2003, and a 2004 DeviantArt drawing was titled "OMG RAWR XD." Both show it was in use by then. The phonetic spelling "ecks dee" was on Urban Dictionary by late 2003 too. Rawr XD later became tied to mid-2000s emo humor.

Popularity brought backlash. In March 2010 a Facebook page was set up to hate the emoticon. In 2013 a League of Legends forum thread proposed banning XD and D: from game chat. The same era gave XD an emoji twin. Unicode approved the grinning squinting face in 2010, an emoji form of the xD emoticon.

More sources: Emoticon - Wikipedia · List of emoticons - Wikipedia · Rawr XD - Know Your Meme (Wayback Machine) · XD - Wikipedia

How to use XD in a sentence

my cat just tried to jump onto the counter and slid straight off the other side XD

sure, blame the lag xd

happy birthday!! sorry the cake photo is blurry, i was laughing too hard XD

In a conversation

bro fell off the map in the first five seconds

XDDD gg, we're cooked

Slang related to XD

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Questions about XD

What does XD mean in texting?: It's a laughing face turned on its side. The X is eyes squeezed shut and the D is an open mouth. It means you find something really funny, like lol with more volume. It isn't an acronym and doesn't stand for anything.
What does XDDD mean?: Harder laughing. Each extra D stretches the laugh, so XDDD is the text version of losing it completely.
Is XD cringe now?: Some English speakers find it dated, a habit from the 2000s, and use it as a joke. It's still sincere in gaming chat and in Spanish-language and other non-English chats. So it depends on who you're talking to.
Is XD flirty?: Not by itself. It's a laugh, so it's playful at most. In a flirty chat it can add warmth, the same way a laughing emoji would. The context decides, not the two letters.
How do you pronounce XD?: Mostly you don't, since it's typed, not said. Read aloud, it's the two letters, "ex dee." Spanish speakers say "equis de," and the joke spelling "ecks dee" comes from the same reading.
Is XD the same as Adobe XD?: No. Adobe XD is design software, Cinemark XD is a large-format cinema screen, and Pokémon XD is a 2005 GameCube game. The laughing face shares the letters and nothing else.