aura
In slang, aura means cool factor: the confident, effortless presence that makes someone seem impressive without trying. “He has aura” is high praise. Merriam-Webster defines it as stylishness, or confident and suave excellence.
Aura points
The joke version turns aura into a score. Do something smooth and you gain aura points (“+1000 aura”). Trip on the stairs in front of your crush and you lose them (“-5000 aura”). People keep imaginary running totals for themselves and their friends.
- +aura: staying calm when everyone else panics, a perfect comeback, walking away from an explosion without looking back.
- -aura: waving back at someone who was waving at the person behind you.
Aura farming and auramaxxing
Both mean trying hard to look cool, which defeats the purpose. Today notes the distinction: someone naturally cool has aura, while someone visibly posing for it is aura farming. It’s often used as a jab.
Examples
- “He didn’t even celebrate the goal. Just walked off. Insane aura.”
- “You called the teacher ‘mom’? That’s -10,000 aura.”
- “Stop aura farming in the group photo, we can see you.”
Where it came from
It grew out of the ordinary meaning of aura, a distinctive atmosphere around someone, and spread first in sports talk. Know Your Meme’s earliest documented use is a 2020 New York Times article saying Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk “has an aura,” which turned into memes from 2022. The aura-points joke started on TikTok in May 2024 and, according to Merriam-Webster, went viral that summer.
The American Dialect Society listed “aura” as a nominee in its 2024 “Most Likely to Succeed” category. A year later, “aura farming” made Oxford’s Word of the Year shortlist, after a viral video of an 11-year-old boy dancing calmly on the front of a racing boat in Indonesia.
Aura vs. rizz
Rizz is charm aimed at attracting someone. Aura is broader: it’s about how impressive you seem to everyone, not just a crush.
Related terms
- rizz: charm and flirting skill
- sigma: a self-styled lone wolf, often ironic
- main character: acting like the star of your own story
- W: a win, and an aura gain
- lore: someone’s backstory
See more terms like this in our Gen Z slang dictionary.
Example sentence
He stayed completely calm while everyone else panicked. That man has aura.
Similar words
presence, swagger, cool factor
Notes
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