Slang dictionary
send nudes
[send noodz]
What does send nudes mean?
Send nudes is a request, usually from a man, for naked pictures, usually of a woman and often on social media, internet dating services, or private text messages. These passionate pleas usually don’t result in actual nudes, but they have become the source of a lot of internet humor.
Related words:
Where does send nudes come from?
The art world has used the word nude for “a portrait of a subject who is naked” since 1700s. Back then, you went to an art studio to see a nude—sending not available.
Fast forward to the 1990s when nude emerges again. Around this time, send nudes was a request on message boards and chatrooms to other men for any naked pictures (e.g., nudie mags) they had. Requests for nudes were already common enough on the early internet that posts seeking casual sex also included whether or not they would send nudes.
In the 2000s, send nudes spread to anime, manga, and video-game forums, where users would ask for people to send noodz or n00dz (in the deliberate disorienting jargon of leetspeak) of fictional characters they were crushing on.
The late 2000s created the perfect storm for send nudes: social media, online dating, cellphone cameras, and requests. We can find some dudes issuing send nudes to anonymous women on Twitter as early as 2007. The dating app Tinder and messaging app Snap both started in 2012, unsurprisingly corresponding with a rise in send nudes—though not necessarily giving a rise to success rates.
Examples of send nudes
'Send nudes and I'll let you live:' Kentucky teen pleads guilty to federal cyberstalking charge
Who uses send nudes?
In the Wild West of social media, online dating, and youthful text-messaging, plenty of folks do post earnest requests to send nudes. Plenty deliver. Plenty more don’t.
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In popular culture, send nudes has become the butt of scorn and humor, widely viewed as a callow and pathetic attempt by young men (or just our younger, dumber, hornier internet selves) to see some skin. This is not to mention, y’all, that asking for naked pictures from someone can be seen as a form of harassment.
Sliding into someone’s DM’s to check on their emotional and mental well being is 2018’s “send nudes”.
— B (@lifeisterrible) June 16, 2018
Just texted my partner SEND NUDES and immediately received several photos of our dog with his collar off. I feel so understood. ❤
— Sera Gamble (@serathegamble) June 21, 2018
People have sent out trolling SOS-style send nudes messages or created elaborate videos with send nudes as visual punchlines.
People have riffed on send nudes with send memes or punned on the expression with send dudes.
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Around the web in the late 2010s, women, so often the recipient of unsolicited requests, may even joke they will send nudes if some improbable event occurs.
If Mexico wins Germany I’ll send nudes to everyone who retweets this
— LC (@Ilsetorresss) June 17, 2018
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of send nudes like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of send nudes that will help our users expand their word mastery.