This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Give, eat, cook and serve are everyday English words. On TikTok, they're doing something different.
In its usual sense, "give" means transferring something from one person to another—a present, some advice or a piece of information. But on TikTok, "it's giving" has become a way to describe the feeling, impression or energy something creates. A person wearing a green top and brown pants might be "giving tree," a confident person could be "giving main character" or an outfit might be "giving Regency era." In each case, the phrase means something like "it resembles," "it evokes" or "it has the feel of"—but without saying any of those things directly.
UNSW Sydney researcher Cathy Xu, from the School of Humanities & Languages, says this is more than a passing internet catchphrase. It is an example of English changing in real time. "TikTok is accelerating language change because it used to take decades for new phrases and expressions to move into everyday use, but now you can see it happen in a couple of years," she says.
Xu is researching how TikTok users play with language and how new forms spread through the platform. Her study of "it's giving" shows users developing new ways to structure sentences and new meanings for familiar words. "It has its own very sophisticated kind of syntactic structure," she says.
"It didn't come out of nowhere. It has a natural derivation from an existing form." The phrase probably developed from expressions such as "giving off a certain vibe." Over time, users dropped "off" and then "vibe," leaving the shorter form: "it's giving." The result is a new use of the verb "give." In standard English, "give" often relates to a tangible object—as in "she gave him a present"—or describes delivering something, as in "she gave a speech." On TikTok, "give" can be followed by an adjectival phrase (which is often disguised as a noun phrase) or an independent clause, Xu explains: The phrase can also appear as "it gives," "definitely giving" or simply "giving." It can mean that something resembles or evokes something else, but it can also work as a kind of conversational marker. People now use "it's giving" beyond TikTok, including in podcasts, comedy and television.
"And, in fact, the phrase is now used in everyday conversation, especially among younger people," she says. The spread of the expression is partly connected to the way TikTok serves up content to its 1.59 billion monthly users. Videos can reach large audiences within hours because of the platform's algorithm and default For You Page, which automatically plays videos without a user having to select anything.
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