
Kuk is the deification of the concept of primordial darkness (kkw sm3w the name is written as kk or kkwy with a variant of the sky hieroglyph in ligature with the staff (N2) associated with the word for "darkness" kkw) in the ancient Egyptian Ogdoad cosmogony of Hermopolis, deity of night and darkness, and symbolizes the unknown and chaos. The Ogdoad consists of four pairs of deities, four male gods paired with their female counterparts. As such, Kuk was viewed as having male and female qualities. His female form was known as Kauket, which is simply the female form of the word Kuk. Kuk is the god of the hours before dawn and is known as "Bringer-in-of-the-Light" as he guides the sun barge of the god Ra toward the sky from the underworld. Kauket, his feminine balance, is called "Bringer-in-of-the-Darkness" who presides over the hours of twilight when the sun is setting and guides the sun barge into the underworld. In the Greco-Roman period, Kek's male form was depicted as a frog-headed man, and the female form as a serpent-headed woman, as were all four dualistic concepts in the Ogdoad. In relation to the 2016 United States presidential election, individuals associated with online message boards, such as 4chan, noted a similarity between Kek and the character Pepe the Frog. This, combined with the frequent use of the term "kek" as a popular stand-in for the internet slang "lol", which was often paired with images of Pepe, resulted in a resurgence of interest in the ancient deity.