About
Brohoof is a neologism coined and used within the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom. It is a portmanteau of the term “Bro fist” and the word “hoof”. It is one of the most popular examples of “Bronyspeak”, and is notable in this regard for originating within the fandom as opposed to the show.
Origin
Having likely originated on 4chan, the exact origin of the term is difficult to ascertain, though the earliest registered instance of the term can be found on an /a/ thread submitted on April 1st, 2011.[1] The first recorded example of “Brohoof” outside of 4chan was a set of definitions submitted to Urban Dictionary on May 30th, 2011,[2] defining the term as follows:
n.) A high-five between two males who watch the show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, due to any aspect, win, meme, etc. regarding said television show.
n.) A high-five between two ponies from the show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, with their hooves, respectively.
v.) To exchange a celebratory high-five either as a pony or because of ponies.
Spread
The pony imageboard wiki Gyropedia has a brief entry on the meme, describing it as a “universal greeting for bronies”.[3] The MLP image hosting site Derpibooru has 377 images tagged with “Brohoof”[3] as of August 2015, while the art community site DeviantArt returns 8,305 results.[4]
The term is frequently referenced in fan videos on YouTube. Examples include “Brohoof?” by icymate, uploaded April 19th, 2013 (shown below, left), and the song “PON3 – Brohoof” by THEOFFICIAL PON3, uploaded November 24th, 2012 (shown below, right).
Various Examples
