Slang dictionary
e621
What does e621 mean?
E621 is an imageboard focused on furry artwork. Do you know what furries are? You should.
Much of the content is pornographic in nature, and it contains many hardcore fetishes. Its cleaner counterpart is e926.
Where does e621 come from?
E621 first referred to monosodium glutamate, or MSG, years before it meant related to furries. MSG is a flavor enhancer found in many foods. E621 is what’s known as the E number (a standardized code for substances in Europe) for MSG.
The website e621.net launched in February 2007. While it’s not confirmed, it may have been intentional that the board shares a name with MSG, indirectly calling the site and its content tasty. Its counterpart, e926 shares a name with the E number for a bleaching agent, chlorine dioxide, which could be a reference to figurative eye bleach to mentally remove what one has seen on e621.
As of 2017, e621 has overtaken other furry specific sites in popularity. In fact, it’s an even more popular search term than the more general furry porn. This is probably because literally anyone can view its archive of sexual artwork without registering for an account, whereas other sites require registration. People who don’t consider themselves furries might also wander onto the site, since it provides an outlet for many hardcore fetishes.
The site has been shut down a few times. A couple of these had to do with the fact that it’s been known to host drawn pornography of child cartoon characters.
Examples of e621
Who uses e621?
When people use e621 as a word, they’re referring to the imageboard. They’ll mention it when talking about where they found certain art pieces online. People who ironically like the site will mention it when they search through its pages, chronicling their descent deeper into the archive, as well as their experience with some (by their standards) truly nasty art.
People also use it as an easy search term when they’re trying to find artwork hosted on the site. For example, someone might Google e621 vore, which is a pretty popular fetish, especially among furries.
Though many online mentions of e621 primarily refer to the website, E621 continues to be another name for MSG, a food enhancer. The food sense does continue to show up on nutrition websites that have nothing to do with furries.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of e621 like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of e621 that will help our users expand their word mastery.