What does ‘Ningning is the maknae’ mean? Viral meme explained

The ‘Ningning is the maknae’ meme about the aespa K-pop idol is going viral on TikTok and other social media platforms. But if you’re one of many who has no idea what it’s all about, here’s what you need to know.

The ‘Ningning is the maknae’ meme has taken TikTok by storm. The trend began in late November, after TikToker ludicrousdonut posted a reaction video critiquing aespa’s Ningning for eating cake before her group members during a live stream.

The term “maknae” is Korean for “youngest,” and in traditional Korean culture, the youngest in a group is often expected to wait for elders to begin eating first as a sign of respect. In the viral clip that started it all, Ningning, whose real name is Ning Yizhuo, took a bite of cake while her bandmates prayed.

On November 20, ludicrousdonut reacted to this moment in disbelief, saying, “In Korea, you can’t eat until the elders eat. Ningning is the maknae, which means she’s the youngest, and the fact that she ate first is crazy.” The TikTok amassed over 1 million views, sparking a wave of memes.

‘Ningning is the maknae’ meme goes viral

Though the TikToker later claimed she was joking, her video became a catalyst for parodies. On November 21, X (formerly Twitter) user sieunistaken reposted the clip, captioning it, “me after my first month of learning Korean on Duolingo,” which gained over 14,000 likes and 531,000 views.

By November 25, content creator ceollis shared a fancam edit using audio from the original video, flipping the criticism into praise by interpreting “Ningning ate” as slang for excelling at something. The fancam garnered over 635,000 views in just two day.

The meme evolved further as TikTokers and X users began overlaying captions on the original video to poke fun at their own limited understanding of Korean culture or language.

Popular examples include: “Me after I sing a K-pop song and say one Korean word correctly,” “Me after eating Buldak noodles,” and “Me after keeping my Duolingo Korean streak for 8 days.”

The meme is continuing to thrive across social media platforms like TikTok and X, with videos garnering thousands of likes and views.

Some users have even reposted the clip where ludicrousdonut claimed that she was joking, adding captions like “Me when I lie and get clocked so I switch up,” and “When I make a joke about an online reference and people just look at me weird instead of laugh.”

This is just the latest meme to take off on TikTok, after the viral ‘I understand it now’ catchphrase blew up.