simp

1 of 2

noun

ˈsimp 

plural simps

1

informal : a foolish or stupid person : simpleton

… Forrest Gump, the smash movie starring Tom Hanks, as a sweet simp from Alabama who rides to fame and fortune on an IQ of 75.

—Peter Travers

The … line inching up the bottom of the chart shows the pitiful returns for the simps whose investments are taxed every year.

—Virginia Wilson

It has always been difficult to grasp how Louise, a simp in the first two-thirds of the show, could become such a swan in the final act.

—Hilton Als

2

a

informal + often disparaging : someone (especially a man) who shows excessive concern, attention, or deference toward a romantic partner or love interest

… multiple videos offering examples of what makes someone a simp, like wearing a nice outfit to school and hoping your crush notices only for them to be absent.

—Magdalene Taylor

Being respectful does not make you a simp. Stop calling guys simps for being decent towards women.

—@Maddynf, on X, formerly Twitter

"I'm a simp," admits 38-year-old actor Namit Das. "I'm vulnerable in love. And, why shouldn't I be? We only have one life. Wear your heart on your sleeve."

—Karishma Kuenzang

A man has been applauded for allowing his wife's ex-husband to visit her in the hospital. … Though he said his friends have called him a "simp," he feels like he "did good" as it is a "difficult situation" for everyone …

—Jack Beresford

b

informal : someone who has a marked fondness or desire for something : fool sense 3b

… as a simp for multifunctional appliances, I was enamored off the bat.

—Morgan Sung

simp

2 of 2

verb

simped; simping; simps

intransitive verb

informal

: to show excessive devotion to or longing for someone or something

[Dakota] Johnson plays Anne Elliot, a particularly regretful Austen heroine still simping over her 'ex' …

—Rohan Naahar

—usually used with for

He simps for women that don't reciprocate his feelings, and puts them on a pedestal.

—Rayan Sayyed

Look, I don't simp for Sony and pretend like the PlayStation is the greatest gaming invention of all time, but I've generally preferred it over Xbox.

—Sergio Pereira

A Brazilian influencer has taken simping for the richest man on earth to a new level by getting Elon Musk's name … tattooed across his forehead.

—John James

Synonyms

Noun

• berk [British]
• booby
• charlie [British]
• charley
• cuckoo
• ding-a-ling
• ding-dong
• dingbat
• dipstick
• doofus [slang]
• featherhead
• fool
• git [British]
• goose
• half-wit
• jackass
• lunatic
• mooncalf
• nincompoop
• ninny
• ninnyhammer
• nit [chiefly British]
• nitwit
• nut
• nutcase
• simpleton
• turkey
• yo-yo

Examples of simp in a Sentence

Noun

don't assume that all teenagers are simps when it comes to making financial decisions

Word History

Etymology

Noun

short for simple entry 1 or simpleton

Note: Sense 2 may be of independent origin. It has been explained as a blend of sissy and pimp entry 1 or a truncation of sympathy, sympathetic entry 1, or simper entry 1. A timeline documenting the use of simp in rap lyrics, beginning in 1987, is available at therightrhymes.com. See also the discussions in Ezra Marcus and Jonah Engel Bromwich, "A Short History of 'Simp'," New York Times, July 7, 2020; and in the article "Simp" at knowyourmeme.com. The Times article claims that the rapper Too Short used the word in raps "as early as 1985," but a search of available lyrics from his albums turns up no evidence for simp before 1988, and then only as a verb. The article also claims that "the word thrived" in blaxploitation films of the 1970's without giving any specifics. The verb simp entry 2 appears to be a derivative of simp entry 1, though it is attested earlier than the corresponding sense of the noun, in the lexicon resulting from a college undergraduate slang study carried out by the Brown University Department of Linguistics in 1967-68 ("be excessively submissive to your girl friend [sic]"—see Green's Dictionary of Slang, online).

Verb

perhaps derivative of simp entry 1

Note: See note at simp entry 1.

First Known Use

Noun

1903, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1968, in the meaning defined above