'Wook' Meaning: Festival Culture 101

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Learn whether or not you’re being insulted when called a ‘wook’

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: September 16, 2025 Fact Checked

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What is a wook?

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Is wook a positive or negative term?

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Where does “wook” come from?

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The Wook Aesthetic

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Musical Genres with Wook Fans

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Video

If you’ve ever spent time at a festival or rave, you’ve likely heard the term “wook.” Wooks are a fixture of any festival/EDM subculture. They’re often known for not showering, “borrowing” things that they never seem to return, and showing up to events intoxicated. In this article, we’ll break down what the term means, where it comes from, and what you can do to spot (and potentially avoid!) any wooks you might run into.

What is a ‘wook’ in rave, EDM, or hippie culture?

“Wook” refers to anyone in any hippie-adjacent culture who typically enjoys psychedelics, not wearing deodorant, and bothering other people. It’s a derogatory term that describes a certain type of music fan that pops up at festivals, raves, and EDM concerts.

Section 1 of 6:

What is a wook?

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A wook is an unhygienic festival-goer who's known for using drugs like psychedelics. Wooks are a common fixture in the festival scene (if you aren’t familiar with them, picture Coachella, Bonnaroo, Burning Man, etc.) and rave/EDM culture. Basically, wooks are the guys and girls who only kind of care about the music, art, and community—they’re primarily there for the party. Wooks are also known to be kind of unhygienic, dishonest, and annoying a lot of the time.^{[1]
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- Wooks are also known for usually being unambitious. They’re often unemployed and need to rely on bumming rides, money, food, or tickets from other people.
- While wooks are known for being kind of dirty, you can’t actually identify a wook by their look alone. Wooks are mainly spotted by their behavior—it’s just that their behavior is often accompanied by a kind of dirty, unkempt look.
- Examples of "wook" in a sentence:
  - Did you put on deodorant today? You’re kind of smelling like a wook.
  - Don’t take drinks from strangers. You never know when some wook is going to spike a drink.
  - I don’t like going to Phish shows in the Midwest anymore. It feels like every wook on the planet flocks to those gigs.
  - Stay away from Daniel. That wook took my friend’s phone last year and still won’t admit it.

Section 2 of 6:

Is wook a positive or negative term?

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Wook is considered a derogatory term. Nobody wants to be called a wook. You may see friend groups use the term to jokingly poke fun at one another, but that’s the exception to the rule. It’s not a good thing to be a wook, and even certified wooks will deny that they fall into the category.^{[2]
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- The closest general terms that are synonymous with “wook” are probably “dirty hippie” or “crusty,” but even those don’t fully encompass all of the connotations with wook. There’s a specific element of potential criminality with “wook” that doesn’t exist with other derogatory terms.

Section 3 of 6:

Where does “wook” come from?

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Chewbacca was a wookie, so you can kind of get the vibe here. Wooks are like Wookiees in the sense that they tend to have big, unkempt hair, they’re often indecipherable, and they’re often kind of intimidating and scary (sorry Chewie!).^{[3]
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Section 4 of 6:

The Wook Aesthetic

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Dreadlocks, tie-dye, and funky accessories are key to wook-hood. The wook aesthetic is really more about vibes and hygiene than it is about a specific uniform, but wooks do often look alike. Dreadlocks are common, as are tie-dye clothes, jam band shirts, and LED-light up bucket hats or chains. Wooks also tend to wear (usually cheap) uncommon jewelry, like beard charms and septum piercings.^{[4]
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- Again, anyone can be a wook regardless of their outfits. It’s more about behavior and hygiene.
- There’s a common cliché out there that wooks really love LED stuff, primarily because they’re fun to look at or play with when they’re on certain substances.
Festivals are often multi-day events where visitors have to use on-site showers or find alternative ways to stay clean. While most people take the time and effort to stay clean (or at least cover up any body odors), wooks typically do not. In fact, you’ll often find wooks wearing clothes covered in stains that haven’t been cleaned since the last festival!
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A shifty, shady behavior is essential to wook-dom. This is the real key—wooks are often not safe people to be around, and they usually behave in a way that reflects that. They might hang out alone on the peripheral of a friend group and wait to try and grab a joint or bottle as it’s passed around despite not contributing financially, or they may go around a bar and try and grab drinks that have been left to sit.^{[5]
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- Wooks often enter or exit tents and rooms where they aren’t invited.
- Wooks can be notorious for picking stuff up that doesn’t belong to them and assuming it has been “abandoned.”
- It’s rare for a wook to ever offer to pay for anything. They’re more likely to ask for others to buy their food, and they’ll never offer up gas money if someone gives them a ride.

Section 5 of 6:

Most Popular Wook Musical Genres

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Bands like Phish, The Grateful Dead, SoundTribe Sector 9, Umphrey’s McGee, and The String Cheese Incident are popular among many of the wooks out there. Basically, anything improvisational and adjacent to hippie culture is going to be a huge draw for the wooks.^{[6]
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Artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Sturgis Simpson, and Colter Wall tend to attract a more country-themed kind of wook. The vibes are still basically the same as the festival wook, but they’re more likely to rock a cowboy hat than tie-dye.
Electronic dance music of any variety can attract a wook, although there’s a cliché that they tend to enjoy less “dynamic” EDM and prefer the kind of dubstep and Dutch house stuff that the more discerning EDM fans dismiss as basic.^{[7]
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Raves are often associated with drug use and where there’s drug use you’ll find wooks. Any major rave scene is likely to have at least a few wooks wandering around and trying to

Section 6 of 6:

What are groundscores?

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The “groundscore test” is a good way to determine if someone is a wook or not. So, at festivals and raves people often drop bags of illegal substances as they’re dancing. The thing is, you have no idea what’s in these bags, which makes the substances extremely dangerous to use. Wooks are the only demographic that’s typically interested in these bags.^{[8]
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