Rage comic stick figure with clenched fist and text 'Must Not Fap!'

Fap

1999catchphraseclassic

Published August 20, 2026

'Fap' is an onomatopoeic internet slang word for male masturbation that started in Clay's Sexy Losers webcomic on April 28th, 1999. The term spread through Urban Dictionary entries, YTMND pages, and forum culture in the early 2000s, settling in as a standard piece of online adult-humor vocabulary.

internet slang origin memes webcomic memes early internet memes ytmnd memes urban dictionary memes

Overview

'Fap' is an onomatopoeic word used online for the sound of male masturbation, functioning as both a verb ('to fap') and a standalone interjection1. It shows up across image macros, forum threads, YTMND pages, and adult-humor sites, and picked up a matching female counterpart, 'schlick,' after an anonymous Urban Dictionary entry posted on April 12th, 20032.

The sound effect mimics the rhythmic skin-on-skin noise found in Japanese manga, where onomatopoeia covers a wider range of everyday sounds than English comics tend to include1. Though 'fap' started in a single webcomic panel, it moved past its source strip and settled in as standard internet vocabulary, later stamped onto adult platforms like ImageFap and FileFap1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Sexy Losers webcomic (origin) / YTMND and Urban Dictionary (viral spread)
Creator
Clay
Date
1999

The earliest known written use of 'fap' online appears in the Sexy Losers webcomic 'Video Girl Etchi' by artist Clay, published on April 28th, 19991. The strip parodied a scene from Video Girl Ai, a manga series by Masakazu Katsura released between 1990 and 1993, using 'FAP' as the sound effect for a shy protagonist masturbating in bed next to a girl he was too spineless to touch3.

Clay later wrote on his own site that he pulled the sound effect from the VIZ English translation of Masahiko Kikuni's manga Heartbroken Angels, which included several onomatopoeia for skin slapping1. He picked 'FAP' because it stood out from the alternatives, then reused it in later Sexy Losers strips only for masturbation, which is how the meaning narrowed down to that single act before the word wiggled out into other comics1.

How It Spread

By 2001, 'fap' turned up in Ghastly's Comic, and in 2002 separate definitions for 'fap' and 'fapping' were submitted to Urban Dictionary2. The onomatopoeia was written up again in 2003 as part of a General Mayhem FAQ thread, showing it circulating in forum culture2.

On May 1st, 2004, YTMND user Smobey uploaded the 'Fap Fap Fap' page, which kicked off more than 240 related YTMNDs, including one called 'YTMND's Daily Fap Average'3. The Urban Dictionary entry for 'fap' ran as the site's Urban Word of the Day on September 8th, 20072. Adult sites picked up the word for their branding too, with ImageFap launching in 2006 and FileFap in 20083.

Comedy sites kept the term in rotation through the early 2010s. On June 24th, 2011, Smosh published a roundup of fap-related image macros, and on February 9th, 2012, the Machinima YouTube channel uploaded 'Top 10 Games to Fap To,' which pulled in over 1.66 million views in its first two years before being taken down. On July 17th, 2012, YouTuber shooterwilliamson posted 'How to Fap,' a satirical clip about masturbating in public that pulled over 620,000 views within eleven months4.

How to Use This Meme

The word typically shows up written as 'fap' or repeated for effect ('fap fap fap') under attractive images on message boards, image boards, and comment sections. Common conventions include the verb form ('I'm fapping to this') and reaction-style posts pairing the sound with a photo, GIF, or video the poster finds arousing. Users often extend the joke with the female-equivalent 'schlick' in similar contexts.

Frequently Asked Questions