What “Hold This L” Means & Where the Phrase Comes From

What does “Hold This L” mean?

“Hold this L” is slang for “Hold this loss” or “You lose.” It’s a taunt that’s often used in competitive situations as a way of telling the other party to accept defeat. It’s often seen in the comments section of sports articles or in-game chats in competitive video games. It’s also popularly used as a caption on social media videos where one person (or team) dominates over someone else. For example: “Hold this L—my team is going to slam yours tonight.” “You never had a chance in that match, my character is OP. Hold this L and sit down.” “Panthers fans had to hold the L after so many losses last season.”

When to Say “Hold This L”

Say “Hold this L” to point out when someone fails at something. It’s popularly used this way on social media to comment on a stranger’s video, but it can be used in person with people you know, as well. It’s similar to saying “This person is a loser”—but a little less mean. For example: “Hold this L—no one is going to buy that merch.” “Hey hold this L … I’m the one who’s getting that promotion.” “Big things coming soon, all my haters can hold this L!”

Where does “Hold This L” come from?

The use of “L” for “Loss” originally comes from sports notation. It’s common to mark wins with a “W” and losses with an “L.” For instance, in baseball, a pitcher will be listed with an (L)—for losing pitcher—if they gave up the run that allowed the other team to win. This is likely the origin of the phrase “take the L,” which eventually evolved into telling someone to “hold this L.”

“Take the L” is also commonly used in AAVE slang and hip-hop music. In 1998, Big Pun and Fat Joe used the phrase “take an L” as a lyric in the song “Twinz.” It was also used in rapper Big L’s song “Ebonics,” which was released in 2000. More currently, JustPierre feat. Nerva released a Christian hip-hop song titled “Hold This L.”

“L” & “W” have been used as internet slang since the 2010s. It became especially popular to use “L” to mock a loss, defeat, or embarrassing situation. For instance, in 2015, a popular meme showed Odell Beckham Jr. catching the letter L. In 2018, Fortnite released an emote called “Take the L” that had characters dance while holding an L to their forehead. This emote was eventually pulled from shops and hidden behind a setting called “See Confrontational Emotes,” likely because it had a toxic connotation.

“Hold This L” Meme

“Hold this L” GIFs and memes show people handing out literal letter Ls. GIFs and memes featuring variations of the phrase “Take the L” are popular. For example, here’s this one showing Dr. Phil giving someone a letter L with a caption that says “You dropped this,” or this GIF that shows Seth Meyers handing out an L with a caption that says “Here you go!” These are great to send to friends and online foes to poke fun at them for a minor fail or mistake. Want to make your own meme? Check out this “Hold this L” meme generator from imgflip.com.