Entry · catalog no. 1006

on fleek

/ ɒn fliːk /on FLEEK

phrase · Chicago / internet · 2010s

✓ Verified

Flawlessly done, precisely right — first said of eyebrows, quickly of anything worth admiring.

“Her braids were on fleek at graduation.”

Origin & Attribution

Coined on camera by Kayla Newman — Peaches Monroee — a Black teenager from Chicago, in a Vine posted June 21, 2014. Brands and celebrities built campaigns on her word while she saw none of the profit: a textbook case of Black language creating value its creators never get paid for.

2014

Coined by Kayla Newman (Peaches Monroee) on Vine

2015

Adopted by brands and celebrities

2017

Newman's uncredited-coiner story widely reported

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

Chicago / internet · 2010s

Spoken by

Black internet speakers

$ONFLEEThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Peaked

12 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

80/100

peak cultural energy

Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

2014

in the culture

Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.

Hear it spoken

By region — how it actually sounds

@auntiereg

Atlanta, GA

@deltasoul

Memphis, TN

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

"Eyebrows on fleek" Vine, Kayla Newman (Peaches Monroee) — video · 2014

submitted

■

The FADER, on Kayla Newman's cosmetics-line fundraiser — article · 2017

submitted

+ Cite a source