How Did the Uwu Meme Start?

According to the website Know Your Meme, the word uwu was first spotted in an anime fanfiction back in November 2005. The author of the piece used it in the author's note at the beginning of chapter six while apologizing for taking so long to upload the fanfiction.

What did uwu originally mean?

Squee! Uwu is an emoticon depicting a cute face. It is used to express various warm, happy, or affectionate feelings. A closely related emoticon is owo, which can more specifically show surprise and excitement. There are many variations of uwu and owo, including and OwO, UwU, and OwU, among others.

Why is uwu a thing?

Typically “uwu” usage denotes some sort of quirky happiness; sometimes it's a chill joy, sometimes it denotes smugness and a lot of the time it relates to cuteness. Often, “uwu” will be used to describe being overwhelmed with cuteness, as seen in countless K-pop fandom posts.