DEEP DIVE

Similar to other silly terms used to describe cute animals (like doggo), chonk is a made-up word to classify fat cats. It is not typically used as an insult, but rather as a term of endearment.

The “Chonk Chart” is a popular meme that was originally posted to the Facebook group “THIS CAT IS C H O N K Y” by Emilie Chiang:

oh lawd he comin pic.twitter.com/jqJBZY9hlS

— 𝕭𝖚𝖈𝕶𝖋𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝕾𝖔𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙 (@dgahk) October 4, 2018

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🔊Did u say #TREATS ⁉️#zomg #yassss #omw 🏃💨 . . . . #chonk #siamese #siamesecats #siamesecat #siamese_feature #siameseworld #siamesecatsofinstagram #cat #cats #gato #kedi #katze #catsagram #catstagram #catlife #rescue #natural_feline_beauties

A post shared by @royalderps1 (@royalderps1) on May 7, 2018 at 6:26pm PDT

This chonk just jumped into a box and slep from r/Catloaf

Internet users have also applied the term to other animals:

OH MY GOD SOMEONE MADE A RAIL CHONK CHART @RallidaeRule pic.twitter.com/1PtTDtgKzS

— Julie Blommaert 👩🏼‍🔬 (@Julie_B92) October 10, 2018

In the bear world, it’s survival of the fattest. In this round of #FatBearWeek it’s 856, the area’s most dominant bear, vs 32 Chunk.

Does dominance deliver for 856? Or is 32 Chunk a total chonk? Which titan of the tundra is the absolute unit?

Vote now: https://t.co/az5KQLICFI pic.twitter.com/8zrfMU8MbK

— Katmai National Park (@KatmaiNPS) October 6, 2018