What does sigma mean?
Sigma is an Internet slang term, especially among young men, referring to a man whose self-assured, dogged individualism is considered a model of status, success, and attractiveness. It can also mean “extremely good,” and is also widely used as a nonsense term and meme online.
Examples of sigma
What the sigma … this is so epic —@nainaizone, X (formerly Twitter), 20 Oct. 2024
Bro, just forget that sigma alpha nonsense. Not every [business] connection [you have] has to be hyper-successful … Go enjoy yourself, make your money, and take care of your community —@neosugar, Threads, 18 Oct. 2024
Someone asked us if it's skibidi or sigma to bring a pet turtle to the airport & we're here to answer travel questions but also plz help???? —@tsa, Threads, 26 Sep. 2024
Given the extremity of the sigma grindset - the ripped abs, the glamour muscles, the hard hustle merged with unsettling levels of corporate aspiration - it’s unsurprising that alt-left meme accounts began to create their own parodies last year. —Günseli Yalcinkaya, Dazed, 13 Jan. 2022
Where does sigma come from?
Sigma is based on sigma male, a phrase and concept credited to controversial far-right activist Theodore Robert Beale. According to Beale, the sigma male is a charismatically aloof model of masculinity, an alternative to the more extroverted alpha male, or “dominant male,” based on pseudoscientific archetypes of social hierarchy that classify animals—and men—using letters of the Greek alphabet. He adopted sigma, the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, to describe this type of man, commonly likened to a “lone wolf.”
The term spread in the 2010s, especially within the online community popularly referred to as the “manosphere,” an Internet subculture associated with misogynist beliefs and extremist ideologies. Among them, the fictional character Patrick Bateman from the 2000 movie American Psycho became a popular reference point for the ideal sigma male, who exemplified the so-called sigma grindset, or a mindset glamorizing unabashed overwork, fitness, and nonconformism as the height of masculinity. By the 2020s, sigma male, shortened to sigma, went viral as the subject of Internet jokes, particularly in a 2022 meme known as Sigma Face, about a Bateman-inspired facial expression the sigma male is supposed to make.
In October 2023, sigma gained further popularity when a TikToker used it in the lyrics of a song and video, called “Sticking Out Your Gyatt for the Rizzler (Fanum Tax)”: Sticking out your gyatt for the Rizzler / You're so Skibidi, you're so Fanum Tax / I just want to be your Sigma.” The lyrics are meant as a parody of memetic Internet slang terms, like gyatt, skibidi, and Fanum tax, seen as overused by young people, especially in online gaming. The lyrics also helped popularize sigma as a more generic slang term meaning “excellent,” based on admirable qualities associated with sigma males. In April 2024, a video featured a cartoon character from SpongeBob SquarePants, popular inspiration for Internet humor, saying “Erm, what the sigma?” spreading what the sigma as a memetic expression equivalent to “What the heck?” What the sigma received mainstream attention after middle school students reportedly overused it in classrooms as a joke to confuse teachers or other adults.
How is sigma used?
Sigma is still used to refer to the sigma male archetype, particularly in online content providing purported tips or examples of how to be a sigma male. Much use of the word, however, is increasingly ironic, pejorative, or found in critical discussions of the toxic masculinity widely connected to the concept. Sigma also has currency as a slang equivalent to “cool,” though it is now more widely encountered as a humorous expletive in the phrase what the sigma—or a gibberish term sometimes referred to as “brain rot” and stereotyped as part of Generation Alpha’s unhealthy digital lifestyles.
