Meanings
- InternethumorousoftensarcasticUsed to convey that credit, recognition, or sympathy should be given.
Press F to pay respects to friends who have midterms this week.
2019, "Off The Record", The Student Life (Claremont Colleges), 29 March 2019, page 62 more examples
The sundry restaurant comings and goings that made our digital readers press F to pay respects will be covered by food critic Hillary Brown in her year-end wrap-up in the Jan. 9 issue.
2018, Blake Aued, "Give the People What They Want", Flagpole, 26 December 2018 - 2 January 2019, page 6Whether you're reading this as an escape from the buzz of events or found it discarded on a chair somewhere (press F to pay respects), let me take this opportunity to give you a warm welcome to Southampton.
2019, Charlotte Colombo, "A New Chapter!", Wessex Scene (University of Southampton), September 2019, page 2
Origin
From a prompt in the PC version of the 2014 video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare which directs the player to press the F key to touch a fallen soldier's coffin during a funeral cutscene.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
press F to pay respects. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/press%20F%20to%20pay%20respects
“press F to pay respects.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/press%20F%20to%20pay%20respects. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “press F to pay respects,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/press%20F%20to%20pay%20respects.
Source: press F to pay respects on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.