Bingus

/BING-gus/

noun · proper noun

Bingus is an affectionate, deliberately silly meme name for a hairless Sphynx cat, especially the cat featured in a viral 2020 video.

#cat memes
#Sphynx cats
#reaction GIFs
#internet nicknames

Meaning

Bingus is the name given online to a hairless Sphynx cat from a viral video and, by extension, a playful nickname for Sphynx cats in general. It is used fondly in captions, greetings such as hi bingus, and exaggerated fictional praise. Calling a cat Bingus usually signals cat-meme humor rather than describing a breed or a personality trait.[1][2]

1. The particular male Sphynx cat associated with the viral video and its meme images.
2. A playful generic name for a Sphynx cat, especially in affectionate captions, GIFs, or reaction posts.
3. A mock-grandiose meme character: users may jokingly portray Bingus as powerful, important, or beloved.

A red heart-shaped locket is open, showing a pink hairless cat on one side and the words “bingus my beloved” on the other. — This meme pairs the hairless cat with an affectionate, deliberately silly message, illustrating how “Bingus” is used as a fond nickname for a Sphynx cat. Source

Examples

“hi bingus, ruler of the living-room blanket”

“That Sphynx is such a tiny bingus.”

“Sent a Bingus GIF because no normal cat reaction would do.”

“Our bingus has decided the keyboard belongs to him now.”

Origin and spread

Earliest use not established. Know Your Meme documents an Instagram upload of the cat video in March 2020 and reports comments calling the cat Bingus by June 9. It says a September Reddit image post helped the meme spread more widely, after which Bingus became a generic nickname for Sphynx cats. The underlying video may have come from Douyin, but the cat’s owner and the person who coined the name are not established by the available record. An unrelated 2013 Urban Dictionary submission used Bingus for a fictional monster, substance, and verb. Those vague user-submitted senses do not document the later Sphynx-cat meme.[1]

How to use it

Use Bingus as a warm, absurd pet name or visual reaction reference, not as a formal name for the breed. A capital B is common for the meme character; lowercase bingus works naturally when you mean a Sphynx cat generically. Grand claims about Bingus being godlike are joke lore, not literal biography. The core use is nonsexual and affectionate.

A greeting became part of the joke

Know Your Meme reports that comments on an Instagram repost were already saying hi bingus by June 9, 2020. That helps explain why a simple greeting to an image of the cat is a recognizable use rather than a request for information.[1]

Not the same thing as Big Floppa

Bingus is tied to a hairless Sphynx cat. Big Floppa is a separate cat meme associated with a caracal; both fit a wider meme habit of giving animal types playful character-like names.[1]

The GIF label still points to cats

Tenor’s Bingus results include tags such as hairless-cat, sphynx-cat, cute, and bingus-bongus. In practice, this makes Bingus most useful as a cat-image or reaction-meme reference.[3]

Questions people ask

Does Bingus mean every hairless cat?

Not literally. Sphynx is the breed name. Bingus began as the name for one meme cat, then became a playful generic nickname that people can apply to other Sphynx cats.[1]

Who originally named Bingus?

That is not established in the available evidence. Know Your Meme documents the video’s Instagram circulation and later comments using the name, while noting uncertainty around the original video and owner.[1]

Is Bingus supposed to be a godlike character?

Sometimes, as a joke. User-submitted definitions build mock lore around Bingus as an all-powerful being, but the documented core referent is the Sphynx-cat meme.[2][1]

Sources

1. Know Your Meme — BingusSupports: meaning, origin, earliest documented use.
2. Urban Dictionary — bingusSupports: meaning, form.
3. Tenor — Bingus GIFs
4. Search Results | Know Your Meme