Etymology

wojak

Wo·jak
W4O1J8A1K5

Today it means: A melancholic character representing the powerless everyday man; or, any derived art or character in the crude line-art Wojak style. Full definition →

Polish wojak ← Proto-Slavic *vojakъ ← Proto-Balto-Slavic *wájas
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*weyh₁-
  2. Proto-Balto-Slavic*wájas
  3. Proto-Slavic*vojь
  4. Proto-Slavic*vojakъ
  5. Polishwojak
  6. English todayWojak

From the Internet meme Wojak, a cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful or melancholic expression. The original image was posted on vichan, a Polish imageboard, in 2009, and was later reposted to the German imageboard krautchan in 2010 by a Polish user called "wojak"; the username is from Polish wojak (“soldier; fighter”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.