If you have been on Twitch in recent years then you have probably seen people use the word “malding” or “mald” in chat or while they stream. But what does this word mean, where did it come from and do you use it?

What Does Malding Mean On Twitch?

Malding is a combination of the words “mad” and “balding” and is a commonly used slang word on Twitch to describe someone who is so mad that they begin to go bald. Although the word is most popular on Twitch, it is also a well known slang word in the gaming community and on platforms such as Reddit.

So for example, if a person is playing Valorant and struggling to do well, the chat may see the streamers mounting frustration and begin to spam “they are malding” in the chat or they are “mald”. 

Mald and Malding mean the same thing and are to be used the same as you would use the words “bald” and “balding”. At least for the most part. Slang words don’t always cross over 100%, but you get the idea.

Streamers may even use the word themselves on their own streams to make fun of themselves or to poke fun at a fellow streamer. It is usually meant to be a joke and not a super serious word.

I remember watching XQC playing Grand Theft Auto one time and he described one of the characters in the game, a heavy set fellow who was balding and upset, as malding. 

It was funny and XQC was right. The character in the game was indeed bald and appeared to be upset as well and so the malding title fit perfectly.

But how exactly did this word come to be?

Where Did The Word Malding Come From?

The word “malding” has been searched for as early as 2004, and was added to the Urban Dictionary in 2011, but the word did not begin to gain major popularity until 2019 when it was used in Twitch streamer Forsen’s chat to poke fun at him for his frustrations while playing a certain game. 

The chat began to type “so bad, so mad” in the chat as a way to tease Forsen for how frustrated he was with the game he was playing. This later became “so bald, so mad” then “so bald, so mald” and then finally “mald” or “malding”.

With time, and given the fact that Forsen and his supporters, known as the Forsenboys ,are such a large community on Twitch the word “malding” was able to spread rapidly not only on Twitch but on other platforms as well.

Within a few weeks there were images created online in Reddit by Redditor “Ganondorf69” of a “malding” Forsen.

The redditor then asked the community to upvote the image so that way it would more easily appear in Google when people searched for the term “malding”.

Shortly after this redditor attempted to promote his “malding” images on Google, a Youtube video titled “The Malding of Twitch” was created and gained popularity within the streaming and gaming communities.

The video features popular streamers and shows them either losing their hair, or asks them questions about being bald. You can check the video out here below if you’d like. 

Since gaining popularity in Forsen’s chat back in 2019, the word “malding” has crossed into other Twitch streams, communities and platforms. It is now a very popular term in both gaming and streaming communities alike, regardless of game or platform.

And the meaning has not really changed. It still remains the same. Someone who is so mad or frustrated with a game that they begin to go bald. They are malding. 

But just because it is a commonly used slang word on Twitch does not mean everyone on Twitch uses it. 

Like any community or niche group, there will be different words and lingo that are unique to that specific community. Malding is just one of those slang words that some streaming communities use and others do not. 

But if the streams that you follow don’t use that word, maybe you could be the cool person who introduces that slang into the community or stream. Just a thought. 

With this word being so popular on Twitch many have wondered if there is an emote for this slang word.

Is There A Malding Emote On Twitch?

There is not currently an official malding emote on Twitch. Some streamers or viewers will label certain emotes as the “malding emote”, but that label is only unique to that stream or individual. However, certain streamers may choose to create their own unique malding emotes to use.

Unlike popular emotes such as the “PogChamp” or “HeyGuys” emote, Twitch does not have a special emote specifically for people who are “malding”. 

But this doesn’t or shouldn’t stop streamers from creating their own unique “malding” emotes on their own channel, that is if “malding” is something that is often joked about on the stream.

Emotes are meant to increase engagement and build your community and how better to do that than a “malding” emote am I right?

Or if you are a viewer in a channel, and would like to have a malding emote, maybe ask the streamer you watch to create such an emote.

Just keep in mind that such an emote would have to make sense for the community and I don’t recommend creating and putting out a “malding” emote just to have one.

But hey, if you like the word so much, maybe you introduce it to your stream/community and then go from there. Do what is right for your stream.

So this is the meaning and history of the infamous “malding”. I hope that not too much “malding” is happening on your stream. Best of luck out there my friends. 

As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!

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Sources

Linguaholic.com