m'kay

• mkay, mmkay, mmmkay, mmk
• mm-kay, mmm-kay

Spellings with initial h, suggesting reanalysis as hmm + 'kay, are common on the Internet, though print citations are yet lacking.

Nasalized variant of "okay". Perhaps made popular by frequent appearance in the cartoon South Park as Mr Mackey's catchphrase; earlier, apparently only in linguistic transcriptions of speech.

• (US) IPA^(key): /mːˈkeɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

m'kay

1. (informal) Okay; an expression of acknowledgment or affirmation, now sometimes used in an ironic or condescending sense.

spelling mkay

• 1991, Barbara A. Fox, “Cognitive and Interactional Aspects of Correction in Tutoring,” in Teaching Knowledge and Intelligent Tutoring, Peter Goodyear ed. :

  In these tutoring sessions we have found that, when the tutor agrees with the student’s displayed understanding, her signal of confirmation comes quickly after the student’s turn, as in:

  S: Mkay. .hh And I know it’s negative, just to follow your thought process, because I know that the sine is positive.

  T. Mhm

• 1993, Herbert H Clark, Arenas of Language Use

  [...] the director would go on only when both were satisfied the matcher had understood, as here:

  D. The long view of the quad uh walkway

  M. those

  M. ┌ numbers right?

  D. └ is number 5

  M. Mkay

  D. Yeah with the numbers on the bottom.

• 1995, Charles Conrad and Lucinda Sinclair-James, “Institutional Pressures, Cultural Constraints, and Communication in Community Mediation Organizations,” in Conflict and Organizations, Anne Maydan Nicotera ed.

  M1: Mkay. Let me point us back to. This is related to um what we were talking about and how you’re going to um sort of report what happened here tonight.

• 2004, Gordon Atkinson, RealLivePreacher.com :

  My bold, Crocodile Hunter “Absolutely” withered into “mkay” with the end of the word lilted up like a desperate question.

• 2004, Deanna Kizis, How to Meet Cute Boys :

  That has nothing to do with star-power crap and everything to do with keeping it real, mkay?

spelling mmkay

• 1997: Christina S. Beck, Partnership for Health (dead link):

  C: I want you to re:st (.) re:st (.) as much as you can do (.) is just re:st (.) hhh when >you go< home (.) >you tell< your husband you make dinner honey (.) hhh you take care of me (.) . . . I need >to set< down (.) I need >to rest< (.)

  P: mmkay (.)

  C: and >get down< (.) watch your sodium (.) the salt=

• 2004, Abbe Diaz, PX This (dead link):

  well i used to have some skilled sticky fingers of my own back in the day so i know a shoplifted dress when i see one mmkay.

• 2005, Catherine Delaney, The Rosameorns (dead link):

  I looked back to him...mmkay brown hair dark eyes...high cheek bones that lucky monkey I wonder if he has some native American.

• 2005, Jenny Colgan, Boy I Loved Before (dead link)

  She was sitting perched on her desk, in that nonchalant, ‘mmkay?’ way teachers do when they’re trying to pretend they’re down with the kids.

spelling mmmkay

• 1999, “It's Easy, MMMKay.” [title, in soundtrack] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• 2004, Victoria Schmitz, If It’s Not One Thing It’s the Other :

  Let’s get all this straight. He took me to a place he hates to see if I like it. Mmmkay.

• 2004, Stephanie Lehmann, Are You in the Mood

  He told her she could sleep in if she liked. “Mmmkay,” she said without opening her eyes, and he kissed her good-bye.

spelling m’kay

• 1999, Tom Bradley, Black Class Cur :

  “I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anybody, not even the missus, m’kay?”

  “M’kay.”

• 2003, Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan, The Digital Bits: Insider’s Guide to DVD :

  But do keep in mind that this film [viz. South Park] is not for the faint of heart, and it ain’t for kids, m’kay?

spelling mm-kay

• 2000, Tom Bradley, Hustling the East :

  She didn’t ask what that was supposed to mean, but tallied a while on her fingertips and obliged him.

  “Mm-kay, bye.”

• 2005, Bill Eisele, Scrub Match

  “All I’m saying,” the Asian man said, “is it’s about time she got a whiff of her own breath. Mm-kay?”

spelling mmm-kay

• 2005: Michael Collins, Hot Lights, Cold Steel :

  “Well, I’m going to take a picture of your arm and then this nice doctor is going to fix it for you, okay?”

  “Mmm-kay.”