"Shrekking" meaning in All languages combined

See Shrekking on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Etymology: From Shrek + -ing, referencing the animated fantasy film Shrek (2001), in which a princess falls in love with the titular ogre. Etymology templates: {{af|en|Shrek|-ing}} Shrek + -ing Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} Shrekking (uncountable)
  1. (slang, neologism) The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner. Wikipedia link: Beauty and the Beast, Shrek Tags: neologism, slang, uncountable Related terms: hypogamy
{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "Shrek",
      "Shrek#English"
    ],
    [
      "-ing",
      "-ing#English"
    ],
    [
      "ogre",
      "ogre"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Shrek",
        "3": "-ing"
      },
      "expansion": "Shrek + -ing",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Shrek + -ing, referencing the animated fantasy film Shrek (2001), in which a princess falls in love with the titular ogre.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Shrekking (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English neologisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ing",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2025 August 21, Charles Trepany, “The new dating term 'Shrekking' sounds innocent. It's not what you think”, in USA Today:",
          "text": "\"Shrekking\" may be a new addition to the modern dating lexicon, but it's long-been a universal experience.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              11,
              20
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 September 12, Olivia Petter, “Shrekking – or deliberately dating 'ugly' men – is a new low for modern love”, in The Independent:",
          "text": "“Although ‘Shrekking’ may sound like a pragmatic response to dating fatigue, in reality it reveals some concerning patterns in how singles approach love and relationships,” says Claire Rénier, relationship expert at dating app happn.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 June 22, Jessica Scemama, “What’s the Deal With 'Shrekking'?”, in Vogue:",
          "text": "It is clear that Shrekking is a divisive concept. While some view it as a sign of emotional maturity, others fear that romantic relationships could become little more than rational calculations.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner."
      ],
      "id": "en-Shrekking-en-noun-uf4k0rKN",
      "links": [
        [
          "dating",
          "dating"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "desire",
          "desire"
        ],
        [
          "caring",
          "caring"
        ],
        [
          "faithful",
          "faithful"
        ],
        [
          "attentive",
          "attentive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, neologism) The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "hypogamy"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neologism",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Beauty and the Beast",
        "Shrek"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Shrekking"
}
{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "Shrek",
      "Shrek#English"
    ],
    [
      "-ing",
      "-ing#English"
    ],
    [
      "ogre",
      "ogre"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Shrek",
        "3": "-ing"
      },
      "expansion": "Shrek + -ing",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Shrek + -ing, referencing the animated fantasy film Shrek (2001), in which a princess falls in love with the titular ogre.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Shrekking (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hypogamy"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English neologisms",
        "English nouns",
        "English slang",
        "English terms suffixed with -ing",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2025 August 21, Charles Trepany, “The new dating term 'Shrekking' sounds innocent. It's not what you think”, in USA Today:",
          "text": "\"Shrekking\" may be a new addition to the modern dating lexicon, but it's long-been a universal experience.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              11,
              20
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 September 12, Olivia Petter, “Shrekking – or deliberately dating 'ugly' men – is a new low for modern love”, in The Independent:",
          "text": "“Although ‘Shrekking’ may sound like a pragmatic response to dating fatigue, in reality it reveals some concerning patterns in how singles approach love and relationships,” says Claire Rénier, relationship expert at dating app happn.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 June 22, Jessica Scemama, “What’s the Deal With 'Shrekking'?”, in Vogue:",
          "text": "It is clear that Shrekking is a divisive concept. While some view it as a sign of emotional maturity, others fear that romantic relationships could become little more than rational calculations.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dating",
          "dating"
        ],
        [
          "unattractive",
          "unattractive"
        ],
        [
          "attractive",
          "attractive"
        ],
        [
          "desire",
          "desire"
        ],
        [
          "caring",
          "caring"
        ],
        [
          "faithful",
          "faithful"
        ],
        [
          "attentive",
          "attentive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, neologism) The practice of intentionally dating someone whom one finds unattractive, or less attractive than one desires, in the belief that this person will be more caring, faithful, or attentive as a partner."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "neologism",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Beauty and the Beast",
        "Shrek"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Shrekking"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Shrekking meaning in All languages combined (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.