Tendies

/TEN-deez/

noun

Tendies can mean chicken tenders or, in investing slang, the profits someone hopes to celebrate with them.

#internet slang
#investing slang
#food slang
#4chan memes

Meaning

Tendies is a playful, intentionally childish-sounding word for chicken tenders. In investing conversations, it often means trading gains or profits—the money imagined as paying for celebratory chicken tenders. In older 4chan meme stories, tendies were the food demanded by a fictional, dependent adult-son character in exchange for “good boy points.” The word alone does not tell you whether someone means ordinary food, the story trope, or financial gains; read the surrounding context.[2][4]

1. Literal food: chicken tenders, often in casual or deliberately cutesy talk.
2. Investing slang: trading profits or gains, especially when framed as money to celebrate with chicken tenders.
3. Tendies stories: the food requested by a fictional character in mocking posts built around “good boy points” and a dependent-adult caricature.

A green frog character holds a cup beside a 4chan-style text post describing eating tendies with spicy sauce and telling a story about a locked refrigerator. — This post uses “tendies” for chicken food in a story written in the exaggerated voice associated with the meme. It shows why the word’s meaning depends on context: here it names food, not investment gains. Source

Examples

“That trade finally paid off; time for tendies.”

“I’m making tendies for dinner—what sauce should I use?”

“He hit his profit target and joked that the tendies were secured.”

Origin and spread

Tendies is a cutesy shortening of “tenders,” modeled on childlike food words. Dictionary.com describes its literal use in 4chan posts in the mid-2010s, where fictional adult-son characters traded chores or “good boy points” for chicken tenders; the portrayal could be mocking and ableist. A January 26, 2015 archived /ck/ food-board thread uses the word for chicken and shows users debating the term, while a January 28 Urban Dictionary entry gives a “good boy points” example. Dictionary.com says the word later crossed into WallStreetBets, where the chicken-tender celebration joke shifted to mean profits. Know Your Meme retrospectively places the story posts on /r9k/ in October 2014, but that does not establish the word’s first use.[1][4]

How to use it

In a trading conversation, tendies usually points to gains; in a meal or recipe conversation, it means chicken tenders. The original story-meme context is mocking, not a neutral description of real people, and some versions relied on ableist stereotypes. The word itself is not inherently an insult.

A green frog character with long dark hair appears beside a text post about good-boy points, a plate of tendies, and a family argument. — The post combines “good boy” points with tendies as a reward, illustrating the dependent-son caricature used in tendies stories. That framing was often mocking and could rely on ableist stereotypes; this example does not establish when the format began. Source

A food-board debate

The archived /ck/ thread shows why context matters: the original post asks for food photos and sauce talk, while one commenter objects to the word and prefers “chicken fingers.” Another replies with a joke about whether chickens have tenders. This is one thread’s exchange, not a general consensus.[2]

The old joke can carry a sting

The tendies-story character is a fictional caricature, not a reliable description of a group of people. Dictionary.com notes that some stories identified the characters as autistic; the joke could therefore lean on ableist stereotyping.[1][4]

Not the same as diamond hands

In investing slang, tendies refers to the gains being sought or celebrated; diamond hands refers to holding an investment through volatility. The terms are associated with WallStreetBets, but they describe different ideas.[4]

Questions people ask

How can I tell whether tendies means food or profits?

Look at the surrounding topic. Recipes, sauces, meals, or food photos point to chicken tenders; stocks, trades, gains, and investing discussions point to profits. A January 2015 food-board archive uses it literally, while Dictionary.com documents the investment sense.[2][4]

Was tendies coined in the 4chan meme?

The available sources do not establish a coiner or first-ever use. Know Your Meme retrospectively dates the /r9k/ story trend to October 2014, and a January 2015 archive directly documents tendies as a food word in use.[1][2]

What is the difference between tendies and nuggies?

Both are cutesy food-word shortenings: tendies comes from tenders, and nuggies from nuggets. Dictionary.com notes that tendies also developed an investing-profit meaning, while nuggies mainly refers to chicken nuggets.[4]

Sources

1. Know Your Meme — Tendies StoriesSupports: origin.
2. Warosu — archived /ck/ Food & Cooking threadSupports: meaning.
3. Urban Dictionary — tendiesSupports: earliest documented use.
4. Dictionary.com — tendiesSupports: meaning, origin.