As TikTok has continued to dominate digital culture, we’ve had to get used to a lot of different phrases and lingo that have been adopted by users on the app. One that frequently pops up on TikTok, and across social media as a whole, is ‘ratio.’

As with any online lingo, like ‘accountant’ or FYP, the meaning of ‘ratio’ on TikTok is a little different to how we use the word in everyday life.

What does ratio mean on TikTok?

If you have been ‘ratioed’ on TikTok, it usually means that your comment has more replies to it than it has likes. This implies that there are more people disagreeing with your comment than there are people agreeing with it.

So, when someone’s comment has been inundated with responses and doesn’t have a lot of support in terms of likes, it is safe to assume that they have had a pretty bad take on something and have been “ratioed” as a result.

I have never seen a tiktok ratio so horrendous https://t.co/MCqrsbl7Ss

— ZHONGLI HAVER (@HONEYUNGSEO) June 20, 2021

Being ratioed also applies if a reply to your comment has more likes than your original comment, or if a TikTok has more comments than it does likes.

The term ‘ratioed’ comes from another Gen Z-populated social media platform: Twitter. If you Tweet something that proves to be unpopular, you might find yourself getting more Quote Tweets from people disagreeing with and/or mocking you than you do likes. If this happens to you, well, it’s safe to assume that you’ve been ratioed.

Is being ratioed on TikTok always a bad thing?

Not always. To make things more confusing, there is more than one way the word ‘ratio’ is used on TikTok. Sometimes, a user might comment on a TikTok saying “ratio me 1:1”.

This means that they want the likes on their comment to match the likes of the TikTok they’re commenting on. So, if a TikTok has 1,000 likes, the user’s comment will need to also have 1,000 likes in order to achieve a 1:1 ratio.

Click here if TikTok doesn’t load

@ahass034 at least he tried right? #failed #ratio #unitedstates #DoritosFlatLife #foryou ♬ he look like Bobby – david

Sometimes, these ratios might get a bit more complicated and go on, and on, and on. If, for example, a user comments: “Ratio me 1:1:1,” this means that they want their comment as well as the reply to their comment to have the same number of likes as their original TikTok.

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