What does aura mean?

/ˈɔːrə/ · noun

Aura is slang for a person’s coolness, presence or charisma — scored in imaginary “aura points” (+1000 for a smooth moment, −1000 for a cringe one). “Aura farming” means deliberately doing things to look effortlessly cool.

Thriving Still hot thanks to ‘aura farming.’ Go for it. Checked 22 Oct 2026 · 4 sources

  1. Thriving
  2. Alive
  3. Fading
  4. Endangered
  5. Extinct

How alive it is, from brand new to gone. Our editorial read, checked by hand.

Use it like this

you tripped in front of everyone 💀

there goes −1000 aura

TRIPPED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE THERE GOES −1000 AURA
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Who made it

No single author. The points meme grew out of TikTok and X templates in 2024; “aura farming” came out of anime fandom and streamer clips, then a boy called Rayyan Arkan Dikha made it global.

Where it came from

The word is ordinary English for a felt presence; the scoring is a video-game idea; the world-famous version is an Indonesian boat-race dance.

Who usually gets left out

The Pacu Jalur festival of Riau, Indonesia, whose traditional boat dancer became “the aura farming kid” with the tradition itself usually cropped out of the frame.

What aura means

Aura is your overall cool factor and presence, measured by an invisible scoreboard everyone agrees to pretend exists. Smooth, stylish or unbothered moments add aura. Awkward, needy or try-hard moments subtract it. The numbers are arbitrary and the arbitrariness is the joke.

Aura and rizz are cousins, not twins. Aura is presence; rizz is specifically charm and the ability to attract someone. You can have one without the other. Our The 6-7 meme World runs on an aura score for exactly this reason.

  1. 1Tripping in front of one person: −100 aura
  2. 2Tripping in front of the whole class: −1000 aura
  3. 3Getting up and bowing: +500 aura
  4. 4Dancing on the bow of a racing boat, unbothered: maximum aura
How the joke builds, step by step.

Where it came from

The aura points meme treats a person’s aura like a video-game score — certain actions add points, awkward ones subtract them. It trended on TikTok and X in 2024, built around templates like “how many aura points did I lose when…” and “the most amount of aura I’ve used on a level 1”.

“Aura farming” — repeatedly doing things to build coolness — spread in late 2024 out of anime fandom and clips of creators like Duke Dennis. In 2025 it exploded thanks to a viral video of 11-year-old Indonesian dancer Rayyan Arkan Dikha, who performed a calm, nonchalant routine on the bow of a racing boat at the Pacu Jalur festival. His unbothered style was crowned the ultimate aura farming, and the dance was recreated by athletes and celebrities worldwide.

When it was first seen

  • 2024: aura points templates trend on TikTok and X; the “−1000 aura” joke becomes a reflex.
  • 2024: “aura farming” spreads through anime-fandom edits and streamer clips, picking up in late 2024.
  • Mid-2025: the Pacu Jalur clip. Rayyan Arkan Dikha’s bow dance is shared by footballers, NFL players and celebrities; Merriam-Webster covers “aura farming” as slang and major newspapers profile him by August 2025.

How it spread

Aura points spread as a caption template, which is the fastest-travelling format there is: any clip becomes an aura clip by adding a number. Aura farming spread as a behaviour — a way of describing people who perform coolness — before a single video gave it a face.

The Pacu Jalur clip did what a template cannot: it gave the word a hero. Recreations by athletes turned a fandom phrase into a global gesture, and the phrase “aura farming” went mainstream on the back of one calm eleven-year-old.

Variations

Aura farming: deliberately building aura. Aura loss event: the catastrophic cringe moment. Negative aura: the running total below zero. Aura debt. The word also absorbed “vibe” and “energy” and now does the work of both.

Is it still in use?

Aura is still hot, largely because aura farming keeps producing new clips. The tells we watch for: brands scoring their own products in aura points, and the phrase appearing in adult self-help.

Our read: thriving — go for it.

Similar words

Often mixed up: Aura vs rizz · Aura vs aura farming

Rizzcool versus charmIt’s givingvibe metricsTouch grassaura loss event6-7 (six seven)unironic joySigmavibe metricsDelulumindset & metrics
Remix the Aura meme →All memesLook up another word

Questions people ask

What does aura mean in slang?

Aura is slang for someone’s coolness, presence or charisma. It is often scored in imaginary ‘aura points’ — you gain aura for smooth, stylish moments and lose it for awkward ones.

What is aura farming?

Aura farming means deliberately doing things to look effortlessly cool and build ‘aura’. It spread in 2024–2025 and was popularised by a viral video of an 11-year-old Indonesian boat-race dancer, Rayyan Arkan Dikha.

What is the difference between aura and rizz?

Aura is your overall coolness and presence, with no romantic meaning; rizz is specifically charm and the ability to attract a romantic partner.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, “Aura farming”en.wikipedia.org
  2. Know Your Meme, “Aura Points”knowyourmeme.com
  3. Merriam-Webster, slang entry “aura farming”merriam-webster.com
  4. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on Rayyan Arkan Dikha (August 2025)

Checked 22 Oct 2026. The “still in use” verdict is our editorial read, updated by hand, from the Ask page. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix it.

Cite this page

Phylum Digital. “What does aura mean?” https://phylumdigital.com/meme-aura.html. Checked 22 October 2026.

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