Cooked
Cooked means done for — finished, doomed, past saving. I’m cooked before the exam; we’re cooked when the plan falls apart. There’s no emoji that says it, so here is a slice of burnt toast that has given up, with arms.
Also written: I’m cooked · we’re cooked · cooked meme · cooked slang
What it actually means
Cooked is the past tense of trying. Australians have used it for decades — cooked meaning wrecked, drunk, sunstruck — and American gaming and sports commentary picked it up as the verdict on someone who has lost the fight, the race or the plot: he’s cooked. By 2024 it was everyone’s word for the moment you realise the outcome is already decided and you are on the wrong side of it. Exam at nine, notes unopened: cooked. Rent due, balance checked: cooked.
It works in the first person (I’m cooked), the plural of solidarity (we’re cooked) and the observational third (bro is cooked). Its opposite is the same verb, one tense earlier: let him cook means he’s doing well, leave him alone. The distance between cooking and cooked is the entire story of a plan.
When you’d send it
11:58pmDeadline at midnight; the file won’t open.- The group chatThe reservation was for last Thursday.
- Any screenshot of a bank balanceNo caption. The toast is the caption.
- “We should probably leave now”Said forty minutes ago. Nobody moved.
Why there’s no emoji for it
The emoji keyboard has heat, food and death, and none of them concede.
Means the opposite. Fire is good; cooked is over.
Breakfast. Unless you are the egg, it doesn’t apply.
“I’m dying” — of laughter. Funny, not doomed.
Closest in mood, but it melts cutely. Cooked has no cute left in it.
The cooked-dog meme — a dog closing its eyes in a sunset — is the mood, but it’s a photo, and a photo can’t be an emoji. The Vigil icon is a slice of toast: burnt, steaming, arms and legs down, X for eyes. It has accepted its fate, so you can send acceptance.
Get it
One file each. No email, no account. Use it in anything you make; don’t resell the files.
128 px PNG, transparent. Upload it once, then type the name.
Download ↓
512 px PNG, transparent. On iPhone, long-press it in a message and tap Add Sticker.
Download ↓
512 px WebP, the format WhatsApp wants. Add it with any sticker-maker app.
Download ↓24-grid, single path, currentColor. Figma, Illustrator, code.
Download ↓Want the whole vocabulary? Every icon in every format, or npm install vigil-icons.
Send these next
Five from the same shelf.
No. 70Millennial burnoutAmbition, caffeine, and twelve open tabs losing the war.
No. 76“Fine”The least believable four letters in English.
No. 37DeluluConfidence thriving independently of available evidence.
No. 94Failure to launchFully assembled. Still somehow on the pad.
No. 81MidNot bad enough to hate. Not good enough to care.Questions, answered.
What does cooked mean in slang?
Done for. Finished, doomed, past the point where effort helps. “I’m cooked” before a test you didn’t study for; “we’re cooked” when the plan has already failed; “he’s cooked” when someone has clearly lost.
Where does “cooked” come from?
Australian slang, where it has meant wrecked, drunk or exhausted for decades, picked up by American gaming and sports commentary as the verdict on a loss, and mainstream by 2024. Its opposite is “let him cook” — he’s doing well, leave him alone.
What is the cooked dog meme?
A photo of a dog slowly closing its eyes against a sunset, used as the reaction for accepting a bad outcome. It says the same thing as “I’m cooked”, which is why the two travel together.
Is there a cooked emoji?
No. 🔥 means the opposite, 🍳 is breakfast and 💀 is laughter. Vigil’s cooked icon — burnt toast with its arms down — is free as a Slack or Discord emoji, an iMessage or WhatsApp sticker, or an SVG.