pookie

What does pookie mean?

Pookie is a pet name. It sits in the same drawer as sweetie, honey and babe, with a softer, sillier sound. Merriam-Webster's slang entry describes it as a term of endearment, often capitalized, for a romantic partner or for anyone a person feels love for, such as a close friend or relative.

On TikTok and Instagram the word stretched well past couples. People now say pookie to:

• a partner: "good morning pookie"
• a best friend: "pookie I need you to come shopping with me"
• a pet: usually a cat that looks especially round or sleepy
• a celebrity or fictional character: "he's just a little guy, he's my pookie"

Know Your Meme notes that people use it both sincerely and tongue in cheek. That double life is the key to reading it. From a girlfriend, pookie is plain affection. In a comment under a photo of a grumpy cat, or from one friend teasing another, it is affection with a grin. The Daily Dot adds that some people use it loosely to mean cute, as in "this little bag is so pookie."

Other meanings. In older street slang, pookie has been associated with crack cocaine. The best-known pop culture link is Chris Rock's character Pookie, a man struggling with addiction, in the 1991 film New Jack City. Nobody sending "gn pookie" means that, but it explains why some older adults hear the word differently.

Examples

• Text from a partner: "landed safe, love you pookie"
• Group chat: "pookie you forgot your charger at my house again"
• TikTok comment: "not him crying at the award show, my pookie"
• Instagram caption: "me and my pookie bear on our six-month anniversary"
• Pet owner: "pookie has knocked three cups off the counter today"
• College dorm: "who ate my leftovers. pookie, I know it was you"
• Parent overhears: "she called her lab partner pookie, is that a boyfriend?"

Pookie usually stands in for a name, at the start or end of a sentence. It can also take my ("my pookie") when you are claiming someone fondly, which is common with celebrities.

Where did pookie come from?

• Before the 1960s: Pookie was a nickname for particular people. Know Your Meme points to doo-wop singer Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson of the Spaniels, born in 1934.
• Mid-1960s: Merriam-Webster places the first known print use of pookie as a general term of endearment here, rather than as one person's nickname.
• Late 1970s: Garfield, the comic-strip cat, gets a teddy bear named Pooky. The Daily Dot credits the strip with spreading the sound through pop culture, and suggests it may have helped inspire "pookie bear."
• 2005: Urban Dictionary records pookie as a term of endearment and affection.
• May 2023: A TikTok by @hixko using the word passes 6.6 million views in three months, according to Know Your Meme. Cat memes captioned with pookie follow across Instagram that summer.
• 2024: TikTok couple Jett and Campbell Puckett push "Pookie Bear" further. Jett told The Cut he had been calling Campbell Pookie for years, as the Daily Dot reported.

Pookie vs twin vs bestie

All three are warm ways to address someone, but they point in different directions.

Pookie is the most tender of the three. That is exactly why it works as a joke between friends who are not usually soft with each other.

Is pookie rude?

No. Pookie is about as harmless as slang gets, and it is fine in a classroom or a family chat.

The only caution is fit. It is an intimate word, so it sounds odd from a manager to an employee, or from an adult to someone else's teenager. And like "okay, sweetie," it can be turned sarcastic in an argument, where "sure, pookie" means "I am not taking you seriously." If a teen calls a friend pookie, it almost always signals that they like each other, not that something romantic is happening.

How to reply to pookie

• Friend texts "gn pookie": "gn pookie bear, text me when you're up"
• Your mom calls you pookie in front of your friends: "We agreed that name stays inside the house."
• Coworker calls you pookie in a team chat: "Pookie is my weekend name. On here I'm Alex."

Is pookie still used in 2026?

Yes, though it is no longer new. The big wave was 2023 and 2024, when pookie and pookie bear were all over TikTok captions. Since then it has settled into a normal pet name that most people under 30 recognize, used sincerely by couples and half-ironically by friends.

It has not been replaced so much as joined. Friends who want a matching, less mushy word often use twin instead. For other words about crushes and relationships, see the dating slang guide.