Before going to the origin of the phrase, many have already debated what the real spelling of the word really is. The TikTok user who made the word popular posted a video to inform his viewers what spelling should be used. He used a combination of “munyayo” and “muñaño” and settled on “muñañyo”.
Obviously, the word is fairly new and it was said to enter the social media platform in July of 2020 when user @jaykindafunny8 used it in one of his videos. In the video, he went through a restaurant’s drive-thru and ordered an ice cream cone. After receiving his ice cream, he smacked it on to his forehead and said the word “muñañyo”.
The phrase is now popularly used in prank videos wherein @jaykindafunny8 sneaks up on people and repeatedly says “muñañyo” even when the person he is talking to does not have any clue what the word means.