Big Brain Energy
Also known as: BBE
Big Brain Energy is a slang phrase and meme format celebrating intelligence, clever thinking, or confident problem-solving. The term emerged around 2019 as a direct riff on "Big Dick Energy" (BDE), swapping sexual confidence for intellectual confidence. It sits at the intersection of several "big brain" meme lineages, including the Expanding Brain format, Big Brain Wojak, and PewDiePie's "Big Brain" catchphrase, all of which fed into the phrase's popularity across Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok1.
Overview
Big Brain Energy describes someone who radiates intelligence or comes up with an unexpectedly smart solution. It's used both sincerely and ironically. When someone figures out how to fit a couch through a doorway using geometry, that's Big Brain Energy. When someone confidently declares that 10+9=19 by working through it from first principles, that's also Big Brain Energy1.
The phrase follows the "[X] Energy" snowclone template that exploded after Big Dick Energy went viral in mid-2018. Where BDE meant projecting quiet confidence without trying, BBE channels that same effortless vibe into the intellectual lane. It works as a compliment ("she definitely has big brain energy"), a challenge ("use your big brain energy to figure it out"), or self-aware irony when the "smart" move is actually ridiculous1.
Big Brain Energy didn't emerge from a single post. It grew out of two colliding meme traditions in the late 2010s.
The first was Big Dick Energy, coined on June 8, 2018 by Toronto writer Kyrell Grant (@imbobswaget) as a tribute to the late Anthony Bourdain. The phrase blew up two weeks later when Ariana Grande appeared to confirm details about fiancé Pete Davidson in a since-deleted tweet, pushing BDE into mainstream vocabulary. Grant's original concept described gender-neutral confidence without cockiness, and the "[X] Energy" template spawned dozens of variants.
The second tradition was the broader "big brain" meme ecosystem. The Expanding Brain meme launched on January 31, 2017 when Reddit user janskishimanski posted the original to r/dankmemes, building on the "Whomst" meme. Big Brain Wojak appeared on 4chan's /pol/ board as early as November 2016, depicting a character with an absurdly enlarged cranium to mock pseudo-intellectuals. By 2019, PewDiePie and Markiplier had both adopted "big brain" as recurring catchphrases in their YouTube content.
The collision of BDE's "[X] Energy" format with the "big brain" meme family produced "Big Brain Energy" as a natural mashup. The phrase appeared organically on Twitter and TikTok through 2019-2020, with an Urban Dictionary entry for "Big Brain Energy (BBE)" formalized on September 10, 20201.
Origin & Background
How It Spread
Platforms
Timeline
2019-01-01
Big Brain Energy begins gaining traction
2020-01-01
Big Brain Energy started spreading across social media platforms
2021-01-01
Big Brain Energy reached mainstream popularity and media coverage
2022-01-01
Brands and companies started using Big Brain Energy in marketing
2024-01-01
Big Brain Energy entered the broader pop culture conversation
How to Use This Meme
Big Brain Energy works in a few common formats:
As a compliment: When someone comes up with a clever idea or creative solution, respond with "that's big brain energy right there." It's typically used for unexpected intelligence or a moment of surprising clarity.
As ironic praise: Sarcastically call something "big brain energy" when the solution is absurdly over-complicated or when someone states something obvious with extreme confidence. The irony is part of the fun.
As a caption: On TikTok and Instagram, creators caption videos of clever hacks, unexpected solutions, or impressively stupid-smart decisions with "big brain energy" or just the brain emoji scaling up.
In the template format: The related "Yeah, This Is Big Brain Time" image macro uses a still of Markiplier with an enlarged forehead, typically captioned with a situation where someone finds a creative (and often absurd) workaround.
Cultural Impact
Fun Facts
Kyrell Grant, who coined "Big Dick Energy" in 2018, originally described it as a tribute to Anthony Bourdain. The "[X] Energy" format she created went on to generate dozens of variants including Big Brain Energy.
The Expanding Brain meme that inspired much of the "big brain" visual language was itself built on "Whomst," a mock-intellectual pronoun joke from Urban Dictionary in June 2016.
Big Brain Wojak predates the Expanding Brain meme by about two months, first appearing on 4chan in November 2016.
New York Magazine covered the "big brain" meme trend as early as February 2017, calling it part of 4chan's "Whomst" intelligence hierarchy.
Derivatives & Variations
"Yeah, This Is Big Brain Time"
— Markiplier-based image macro from April 2019, one of the most popular exploitable templates in the big brain family.
Galaxy Brain / Expanding Brain
— The original 2017 multi-panel format showing escalating levels of "intelligence" paired with increasingly absurd options.
Big Brain Wojak
— 4chan's 2016 illustration of a character with a massively enlarged cranium, used to mock pseudo-intellectualism.
"Small Brain Energy" / "Smooth Brain"
— The inverse of BBE, calling out obviously dumb decisions. Common on Reddit and Twitter[1].
PewDiePie Big Brain compilations
— Fan-edited YouTube compilations of PewDiePie's Minecraft moments using the "big brain" catchphrase.
Frequently Asked Questions
References (2)
- 1LGBTQ chemicals conspiracy theoryencyclopedia
- 2Big Brain Energy - Urban Dictionarydictionary