hopecore

H4O1P3E1C3O1R1E1
US/ˈhoʊpˌkoɹ/

noun

An Internet aesthetic featuring joyful or motivational content, intended to inspire hope.

OriginEnglish hardcorebf. ← Middle English core ← Old English heard →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

nounhopecore (uncountable)
  1. neologismuncountableaestheticAn Internet aesthetic featuring joyful or motivational content, intended to inspire hope.

    There are a few statements and quotes that crop up a lot in TikTok’s new ‘hopecore’ trend. […] For India Black, who posts a lot of hopecore content on the video app, the trend is TikTok’s name for videos dedicated to curating messages of optimism.

    2024 February 19, Yolanthe Fawehinmi, “What is TikTok’s new ‘hopecore’ trend and is it exactly what we need right now?”, in The Independent
  2. InternetbroadlyhumorousuncountablePornography.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kewbʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kubʰnéh₂ti
  3. Proto-Germanic*hup(p)ōnąder.?
  4. Proto-West Germanic*hopōn
  5. Old Englishhopian
  6. Middle Englishhopen
  7. Englishhope
  8. Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
  9. Proto-Germanic*harduz
  10. Proto-West Germanic*hard(ī)
  11. Old Englishheard
  12. Middle Englishhard
  13. Englishhard
  14. Middle Englishcore
  15. Englishcore
  16. Englishhardcorebf.
  17. Englishhopecore

From hope + -core.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hopecore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hopecore

MLA

“hopecore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hopecore. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hopecore,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hopecore.

Source: hopecore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.