copium

Copium is an imaginary “drug” people supposedly take to cope with a loss, a disappointment or an uncomfortable truth. Saying someone is “on copium” means they’re making excuses instead of accepting reality.

What does copium mean?

Copium blends “cope” and “opium.” It’s used to mock, usually playfully, the excuses and wishful thinking people reach for when something doesn’t go their way: a sports fan insisting the referee cost them the game, a gamer blaming lag, or a fan claiming a canceled show will surely come back.

People often use it about themselves, too: “Maybe the package will arrive today, I’m on full copium.” Twitch chats spam a copium emote when a streamer is clearly in denial.

How to use copium

• “‘We were robbed by the refs.’ Sure, keep huffing that copium.”
• “The sequel will be good, I promise. (pure copium)”
• “Huge copium from the fans after that trade.”
• “I’m on copium thinking I’ll finish this essay tonight.”

Copium vs. hopium

Copium is about dealing with something that already went wrong. Hopium is unrealistic optimism about something that hasn’t happened yet. A fan might take hopium before the final and copium after losing it.

Where copium comes from

Merriam-Webster, which added copium in 2026, dates its first known use to 2000. Know Your Meme traces the modern slang to 4chan in 2018, and a meme of the cartoon frog Pepe breathing from a “copium” tank followed in 2019. It later became a popular emote in Twitch chats.

Related terms

• Hopium: unrealistic optimism.
• Malding: mad and balding, extremely frustrated.
• Delulu: delusional, often on purpose.
• Ratio: when replies outnumber likes.

See more terms like this in our internet slang dictionary.