tweep

noun

ˈtwēp 

: a person who uses the X (formerly Twitter) online message service to send and receive tweets

Did you know?

Twitter and tweeting began in 2006, and two years later folks were referring to those who tweet as tweeps. (The word tweep persisted despite a reproach by one blogger in 2008: "Do not post Good morning Twitter peeps! the second you wake up. Or some even more annoying variation like Yo Tweeps!") Today, the portmanteau tweep is easy to accept with the omnipresence of Twitter: it's a blend of Twitter's tweet and slang's peeps. The slang use of peeps for "people" became common sometime around the mid-20th century. In a 1951 article in the Chicago Tribune, for example, it was reported that "high schoolers are greeting each other with 'Hi, peeps' (short for 'hello, people,' of course)."

Examples of tweep in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The sheer profusion of actors online has foreclosed their need to be real at all: the armies of bots and the Russian sockpuppets, the corporate tweeps and the AI deepfakes. —Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 24 Feb. 2020

Other tweeps played on the meme of young entrepreneur Frank Giaccio fulfilling his dream of mowing the White House lawn last year. —Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, 24 May 2018

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from tweeps an individual's followers on Twitter, blend of tweet entry 1 and peeps

First Known Use

2007, in the meaning defined above

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