AFK

AFK stands for “away from keyboard.” People use it to say they are stepping away for a moment, or to describe someone who has stopped responding. In games, an AFK player is one who has gone idle and left their team short.

What does AFK mean?

AFK started in early online chat rooms as a quick way to say “I’m not here right now.” It is still used that way in group chats, Discord servers and games: type “afk” before you grab a drink, and people know not to expect a reply.

In multiplayer games it often has a complaint built in. An AFK teammate is standing still while everyone else plays, and many games now kick or penalize players who go AFK too long.

How to use it

• “AFK 5 min, food’s here.”
• “Our support has been AFK since the start of the round.”
• “Sorry, was AFK. What did I miss?”
• “He went AFK for the whole meeting and nobody noticed.”

People also use it about real life: going “AFK for the weekend” means logging off and unplugging for a while.

Related terms

• IRL: “in real life,” away from the internet
• touch grass: go outside and log off
• rage quit: leaving a game in anger
• laggy: slow to respond because of delay
• GG: “good game”

See more terms like this in our gaming slang dictionary.