whatitis

whatitis is a neologistic term that originated in online discourse to denote the act of inquiring about the nature, purpose, or classification of an object, concept, or phenomenon. The word is formed by concatenating the interrogative phrase “what is it” into a single lexical item, allowing speakers to refer to the questioning process itself rather than the specific content of the inquiry.

Etymology

The construction follows a pattern common in internet slang, where frequently used phrases are compressed into monolithic tokens for brevity in typed communication. The earliest documented usages appear in forum posts and micro‑blogging platforms in the early 2010s, where users employed the term both humorously and descriptively.

Usage

In contemporary usage, whatitis functions as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it designates the question or the subject of curiosity (“The artist’s new installation is pure whatitis”). As a verb, it describes the act of posing such a question (“She whatitised the strange diagram”). The term is often employed in contexts that involve ambiguous or novel objects, ranging from technology and science to pop culture and art.

Cultural significance

whatitis reflects broader trends in digital communication, where linguistic economy and meme‑like formation encourage the rapid creation and diffusion of novel lexical items. Though primarily informal, the term has been noted in sociolinguistic studies of online language change and has occasionally appeared in mainstream media commentary on viral phenomena.