The Meaning of Malding: What It Is and How To Use It

This article will give you all the information you need on the word malding, including its definition, example usage, origin, and more!

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

What is the definition of malding?

According to Stream Scheme, the term malding is a portmanteau of the words mad and balding, not to be confused with the term malting. This word is commonly used in gaming when a player who is going bald or has a receding hairline gets extremely angry. It is commonly used as a part of online gaming lingo in games like League of Legends or on gaming streaming websites like the very popular Twitch.

How did the term malding originate?

The term malding became a popular meme on Twitch user Forsen’s channel. People were spamming Forsen’s chat with the phrase, “So bad, so mad!” After a series of typos the phrase turned into, “So bald, so mad,” and finally, “So bald, so mald.” Thus the term malding was born.

Although he is the person who popularized the term, malding was acutally added to Urban Dictionary long before it became commonplace, in 2011. According to Know Your Meme, the phrase mald was submitted by user Yozaru to mean someone who is either both mad and bald, or who is mad about being bald. Some people have been googling this word as early as 2004.

In late 2019, another Twitch streamer, Joey “Nagzz21” Bagels, filed a trademark application for the term malding, as well as the domain name malding.com as a joke between him and another Twitch streamer, Rob “Roflgator” Malecki. He assured the community that it was all a joke and that he did not want anyone to stop using the word malding.

Twitch is a live streaming gaming platform that has over 15 million daily users for upwards of an hour and a half per user every day in the United States and worldwide. People love watching other people play videogames, and a sense of community is fostered via its built-in chat function. It provides users with tips and tricks for their favorite games.

How does one use malding in a sentence?

Malding is a casual piece of internet slang often used between gamers. Most frequently, it is used to poke fun at someone who is both mad and balding. This could be a term that is used when a player loses a game, or becomes frustrated with a game. The below are a couple of examples of a sentences in which the term malding could be used.

Marcus and Ceara are playing an online game where they can speak in real time while playing. Marcus is going bald, and his character just died in the game.

Marcus: No! That’s like the tenth time! They won’t stop coming after me!

Ceara laughs.

Marcus: It’s not funny, dude! I’m annoyed!

Ceara: You’re more than annoyed, you’re malding!

Here, Ceara is using malding to poke fun at her friend Marcus, who is frustrated with the game.

In another scenario, Dillon participated in a gaming tournament the night prior, and his friend Kyle asks him how it went the next day.

Kyle: Hey! How did your gaming tournament go last night?

Dillon: It was the worst, dude. My computer kept freezing up right in the middle of a game. I was tearing my hair out so much, I was practically malding.

Kyle: Ah, I’m sorry, man.

Here, while Dillon is not actually balding, he was so angry he was tearing his hair out, another common phrase. Thus, the term malding was appropriate.

What are some synonyms for the word malding?

Below are some synonyms one could use in place of the word furious or malding according to Thesaurus. Definitions for these words are provided by Oxford Languages.

·      Enraged – An adjective meaning very angry or furious.

·      Incensed – An adjective meaning enraged, or very angry.

·      Livid – An adjective meaning furiously angry.

·      Raging – An adjective meaning having violent or uncontrolled anger.

·      Vehement – An adjective meaning intense, showing strong feeling, forceful or passionate.

·      Bent out of shape – An adjective meaning agitated or irritated.

·      Beside oneself – A phrasal adjective meaning overcome with anger or distraught.

·      Boiling – Having a strong negative emotion, inflamed with rage.

·      Corybantic – An adjective meaning in a frenzy, or wild.

·      Crazed – An adjective meaning out of control, wild or insane.

·      Demented – A usually British adjective meaning behaving irrationally because of anger or distress.

·      Fuming – An adjective meaning having or showing intense anger.

·      Infuriated – An adjective meaning to be extremely angry or impatient.

·      Maddened – An adjective meaning extremely annoyed or irritates.

·      On the warpath – A phrase meaning angry and ready to confront someone or something.

·      Steamed – An informal adjective meaning extremely angry.

·      Up in arms – A phrase meaning angry and protesting about something.

What are other words that originated in the Twitch gaming community?

Twitch as a platform has sparked many different  slang terms. Malding is just one of many abbreviations, acronyms, or emotes used on websites like Reddit and Twitch. Some more examples of Twitch language from Linguaholic are below.

·      Pepega – Stemming from the meme of Pepe the frog, it is a derisive term that means someone who is mentally challenged. This term is not politically correct or appropriate, but it is still used by many internet gamers.

·      Poggers – This term also originated from the Pepe the frog meme. This word is an exclamation used to show excitement during a game.

·      MonkaS – This is yet another term stemming from Pepe the frog, and means that someone is extremely anxious or tense.

·      Jebaited – This is a term that means to get trolled or tricked into something. Its inspiration comes from Alex Jebailey, who is a gaming community organizer.

Overall, the word malding is a portmanteau of the words mad and balding. This was popularized within the internet gaming community, particularly on the streaming platform Twitch. It means someone who is both balding and mad, or someone who is so mad they are balding. It is a common casual slang phrase used between people who play online games, such as the MMORPG League of Legends.

Sources:

  1. https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/furious
  2. https://www.streamscheme.com/malding/#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9CMalding%E2%80%9D%20is%20the,a%20part%20of%20Twitch%20lingo
  3. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=malding
  4. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/malding
  5. https://linguaholic.com/linguablog/the-meaning-of-malding-on-twitch/