127 Sex Slang Terms You Should Probably Know

Sex has a vocabulary problem. Just when you figure out what edging means, suddenly everyone is talking about gooning. You learn the difference between polyamory and an open relationship, only to encounter solo poly. And if someone tells you they’ve got a “roster,” well, they probably haven’t recently joined a recreational softball league.Of course, sex slang isn’t just about increasingly creative ways to describe what people are doing in bed. Sexuality is shaped by “everything from identity, lifestyle, and culture, to desires, boundaries, kinks, fetish, likes, and dislikes,” explains Lisa Finn, sex educator at Babeland. So naturally, we’ve developed a whole lot of language to talk about all of it. Having that vocabulary can make it easier to communicate what we want, describe how we identify, and find people who get it.And while TikTok may make it seem like the internet invents a new sex term every 30 seconds, plenty of supposedly “new” slang has actually been around for a long time. Finn notes that many terms have roots in communities including AAVE, queer and ballroom communities, and kink spaces before making their way into the mainstream. Social media has also sped up the cycle, as users invent code words to get around sexual-content filters, only for platforms to eventually catch on and send everyone searching for the next workaround.So whether you spotted a mysterious acronym on a dating app or would simply like to know what the hell gooning is, welcome. Ahead, your guide to the sex slang, relationship lingo, kinks, identities, and other terms worth knowing right now.Your Guide to Sex Slang, Right This WayAbrosexual: A sexual orientation that describes someone whose sexual attraction or orientation is fluid and can change over time. Someone who is abrosexual might, for example, experience attraction to multiple genders at one point and little or no sexual attraction at another.Aegosexual: Part of the asexual spectrum, aegosexuality generally describes a disconnect between oneself and the object or experience of sexual arousal. An aegosexual person may experience arousal or enjoy sexual fantasies or content without wanting to participate in those scenarios themselves.Age Play: A form of consensual kink in which adults role-play as different ages, often within a Dom/sub dynamic. Age play is an umbrella term that can include more specific forms of play, such as Adult Baby Diaper Lovers (ABDL), DD/lg relationships (Daddy Dom/little girl), and Bigs/middles. The common thread is that one adult takes on a younger submissive role while another takes on a caregiver role, kink educator Emerson Karsh previously told Cosmo.Allosexual: A term for someone who experiences sexual attraction. It’s commonly used in contrast to asexual or ace-spectrum identities.Amazon (position): An advanced sex position that combines elements of missionary and cowgirl. The bottom partner lies on their back with their knees bent toward their chest while the top partner lowers themselves between their legs, using their knees and hands for balance.Anal Sex: Most commonly refers to penetration of the anus, which can involve a penis, strap-on, sex toy, or fingers.Anorgasmia: Difficulty reaching orgasm or the inability to orgasm despite adequate sexual stimulation.Apothisexual: An identity on the asexual spectrum generally used by people who are asexual and sex-repulsed or sex-averse.Asexual: A sexual orientation generally describing someone who experiences little or no sexual attraction. Asexuality doesn’t necessarily determine whether someone experiences romantic attraction, has sex, masturbates, or wants a romantic relationship.Asexual Spectrum: Commonly abbreviated as “ace-spec” or “a-spec,” the asexual spectrum encompasses identities and experiences characterized by little, no, infrequent, or conditional sexual attraction.A-Spot: Short for the “anterior fornix erogenous zone,” the A-spot refers to a sensitive area deep inside the vagina, along the front wall near the cervix.Autosexual: Someone who experiences sexual attraction toward themselves.Auralism: A sexual interest in or arousal from sound. This can include sounds made during sexual activity, like moaning, breathing, or other noises, psychotherapist Lee Phillips, a certified sex and couples therapist, previously told Cosmo.Bareback: A slang term that generally refers to having penetrative sex without a condom or other barrier method. Depending on the type of sex and partners involved, going without barriers can increase the risk of STI transmission and, in some cases, pregnancy.BDSM: An acronym that can stand for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.Benching: A dating term for keeping someone in your orbit without actively pursuing a relationship with them, often while focusing your attention on someone else.Bisexual: A sexual orientation describing someone who has the potential to be attracted to people of more than one gender. That attraction doesn’t necessarily happen at the same time, in the same way, or to the same degree.Blood Play: A form of kink in which blood—real or simulated—is incorporated into sexual or BDSM play. “It can range from something as simple as pinpricks to more complex scenes involving needles, razor blades, or knives,” kink instructor and writer Julieta Chiara previously told Cosmo. Because activities involving real blood and sharps can carry significant health and safety risks, blood play requires careful risk awareness and negotiation.Blow Job: A form of oral sex that involves using the mouth, lips, and/or tongue to stimulate a penis. Also called fellatio or “going down on” someone.Blue Balls: A slang term for temporary aching or discomfort in the testicles that can occur after prolonged sexual arousal without orgasm or ejaculation. Despite the name, “blue balls” aren’t dangerous and don’t mean the testicles literally turn blue.Breadcrumbing: Giving someone just enough attention—like occasional flirting, texts, or social media interactions—to keep them interested without intending to meaningfully move the relationship forward.Bulge: Also called a “print” or “dick print,” the visible outline of a penis through someone’s clothing.Butt Plug: An anal sex toy designed to be inserted into the anus and remain in place. Butt plugs have a flared base to prevent the toy from traveling too far inside the rectum.Ceterosexual: A term sometimes used to describe attraction to nonbinary and/or gender-nonconforming people. It is sometimes used in place of "skoliosexual," a term that has fallen out of favor because of its potentially stigmatizing connotations.Circumcision: A procedure that removes some or all of the foreskin covering the head of the penis. Circumcision can be performed during infancy or later in life for religious, cultural, personal, or medical reasons.Comphet: Short for “compulsory heterosexuality,” the societal expectation that heterosexuality is the default and that people are or should be straight. Comphet is closely tied to heteronormativity.Cosplay: Short for “costume play,” cosplay involves dressing up as and embodying a character, often from pop culture. While cosplay isn’t inherently sexual, it can be incorporated into role-play or kink.Cowgirl: A sex position in which one partner straddles the other while facing them.Creampie: A slang term for when semen remains visible in or around the vagina or anus after ejaculation during penetrative sex.Cuckolding: A consensual kink in which someone is aroused by their partner having sex with another person, sometimes while they watch or know it’s happening. While the term traditionally described a husband whose wife was unfaithful, modern cuckolding can involve people of any gender or relationship configuration.Cum Shot: A term commonly used in pornography for a visible ejaculation, often onto a partner’s body.Cunnilingus: Oral sex involving stimulation of the vulva and clitoris with the mouth, lips, and/or tongue.Cupiosexual: An identity on the asexual spectrum describing someone who experiences little or no sexual attraction but still desires a sexual relationship.Deep Throating: A blow job technique that involves taking a penis deeply into the mouth and throat.Demisexual: An identity on the asexual spectrum describing someone who only experiences sexual attraction after forming a strong emotional connection with another person.DD/lg: Short for “Daddy Dom/little girl,” DD/lg is a form of consensual BDSM and age play between adults in which one partner takes on a dominant, often nurturing “Daddy” role and the other takes on a submissive “little” role.Diaphragm: A dome-shaped contraceptive device inserted into the vagina to cover the cervix and help prevent sperm from reaching an egg.Dirty Sanchez: A slang term for an alleged sex act in which someone puts a finger into their partner’s anus, then wipes any fecal matter that transfers onto the person’s upper lip. FWIW, it’s generally considered more urban legend than something you’re likely to actually encounter in bed.Dirty Talk: Using sexually explicit or suggestive language with a partner to create arousal, whether before, during, or outside of sex.Doggy-Style: A sex position in which the receiving partner is on their hands and knees while their partner penetrates them from behind.DTR: Short for “define the relationship,” aka having a conversation with the person (or people) you’re seeing about the nature, expectations, and/or future of your relationship.Eater: Slang for someone who really enjoys performing cunnilingus. If someone describes themselves as an “eater,” they're enthusiastically telling you that going down is very much their thing.Edge Play: An umbrella term for BDSM activities considered higher-risk or that push physical, psychological, or emotional boundaries. What counts as edge play can vary from person to person and community to community.Edging: Delaying orgasm by repeatedly approaching the point of climax and then reducing or stopping stimulation, often with the goal of eventually having a more intense orgasm.Erogenous Zones: Areas of the body that are particularly sensitive to touch and can produce sexual arousal or pleasure, such as the neck, ears, nipples, and genitals.Erotic Hypnosis: Also called “hypno sex,” erotic hypnosis involves using hypnosis or hypnotic techniques in a sexual or erotic context, often to influence sensations, arousal, fantasies, or sexual responses.Ethical Non-Monogamy: Also known as “ENM,” ethical non-monogamy is an umbrella term for relationships in which people have multiple sexual and/or romantic connections with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.Face-Sitting: A sex position in which one person sits or straddles their partner’s face to receive oral stimulation.Facial: A slang term for ejaculating semen onto a partner’s face.FinDom: Short for “financial domination,” a kink in which a submissive gets gratification from giving money, gifts, or financial control to a dominant partner, often at the dominant’s request or demand.Fingering: Using one or more fingers to sexually stimulate someone’s genitals and/or anus.Fluid Bonding: A term used by some people to describe an intentional decision between sexual partners to stop using certain barrier methods and exchange bodily fluids during sex.Foot Fetish: A sexual interest in or attraction to feet. Someone with a foot fetish might enjoy looking at, touching, massaging, kissing, licking, or otherwise interacting with feet.Foot Job: A sex act that involves using the feet to rub or stimulate a partner’s genitals.Foreplay: Sexual or intimate activities that traditionally happen before intercourse, such as making out, touching, oral sex, fingering, dirty talk, or sexting. Despite the name, foreplay doesn’t necessarily have to lead to penetration—or be considered merely a warm-up for another kind of sex.Fraysexuality: An identity on the asexual spectrum describing someone whose sexual attraction to another person may decrease or disappear as an emotional connection develops.Frottage: A form of non-penetrative sexual activity that involves rubbing against another person’s body for sexual stimulation or pleasure. The term comes from the French verb frotter, meaning “to rub.” It can include activities commonly called “dry-humping.”Golden Shower: Also called “watersports,” a golden shower is a sex act or kink involving urine, such as urinating on or being urinated on by a partner.Gooning: A form of prolonged, intense masturbation often involving edging, in which someone stays highly aroused for an extended period of time. The term can also refer to a deliberately uninhibited or trance-like state associated with that prolonged arousal.Greysexual: Also spelled “graysexual” and sometimes called “grey-ace” or “gray-ace,” greysexuality is an identity on the asexual spectrum generally describing someone who experiences sexual attraction rarely, weakly, or only under limited circumstances.Gynesexual: A sexual orientation describing attraction to femininity or feminine qualities, regardless of a person’s gender.Hand Fetish: Also known as cheirophilia, a hand fetish is a sexual interest in hands or specific features of them, such as fingers, palms, or nails.Hand Job: Using one or both hands to sexually stimulate a penis.Heteroflexible: A term generally used by someone who primarily experiences heterosexual attraction but occasionally experiences attraction to or has sexual experiences with people of the same gender.Heteronormativity: The assumption that heterosexuality is the default or norm, often accompanied by expectations that relationships should involve a cisgender man and a cisgender woman.Hickey: Also known as a “love bite,” a hickey is a bruise caused by sucking or kissing the skin hard enough to break tiny blood vessels beneath the surface.Hypergamy: Dating or marrying someone perceived to have a higher social, economic, or educational status than you.Jelqing: A penis-stretching exercise that involves repeatedly pulling or massaging a partially erect penis with the goal of increasing its size. There’s no good evidence that jelqing permanently enlarges the penis, and it can cause injury.Kitchen Table Polyamory: A style of polyamory in which partners and metamours are comfortable having friendly, communal relationships with one another—enough that everyone could, in theory, sit around a kitchen table together.Masturbation: Touching or stimulating your own body, especially your genitals, for sexual pleasure, whether or not it results in orgasm.Metamours: In polyamory, metamours are people who share a partner but aren’t necessarily romantically or sexually involved with each other.Mile-High Club: A slang term for people who have had sex on an airplane.MILF: An acronym for “Mom I’d Like to Fuck,” generally used to describe a mother someone considers sexually attractive.Missionary: A sex position in which one partner lies on their back while the other partner lies or positions themselves on top, facing them.Motorboating: Putting your face between someone’s breasts and rapidly moving your head back and forth, often while making a raspberry-like sound with your lips.Nylon Fetish: A sexual interest in nylons or hosiery that can involve wearing, touching, smelling, or looking at them.Omnisexual: A sexual orientation describing attraction to people of all genders, with gender potentially still playing a role in how that attraction is experienced.Open Relationship: A form of consensual non-monogamy in which people in a relationship agree that one or more partners can pursue sexual and/or romantic connections with other people, according to whatever boundaries they establish together.Orbiting: A dating term for when someone you’re no longer seeing continues to interact with your social media—watching your Stories, liking your posts, etc.—without meaningfully reentering your life.Orgy: Group sex involving multiple people, often in a social or party-like setting.Pansexual: A sexual orientation describing attraction to people regardless of gender. Pansexuality can fall under the broader bisexual umbrella, though not everyone who identifies as pansexual necessarily uses both labels.Pearl Necklace: A slang term for ejaculating semen onto someone’s neck or chest, named for the way drops of semen may resemble a strand of pearls.Pegging: A sex act in which one person uses a strap-on dildo to penetrate their partner anally.Period Sex: Having sex while at least one partner is menstruating.Pillow Princess: A term with roots in queer and lesbian communities generally describing someone who prefers receiving sexual pleasure rather than giving it.Polyamory: A form of consensual non-monogamy involving multiple romantic and/or sexual relationships with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved.Polycule: A term for the network of people connected through polyamorous relationships.Polysexual: A sexual orientation describing attraction to multiple, but not necessarily all, genders.Pompoir: A sexual technique that involves contracting and controlling the vaginal and pelvic floor muscles around a penis, finger, or sex toy during penetration.Postcoital Dysphoria: Feelings of sadness, anxiety, irritability, or distress that occur after consensual sex, even when the sexual experience itself was enjoyable or satisfying.Praise Kink: A kink involving sexual arousal or gratification from receiving praise or affirmation. If hearing “good girl,” “good boy,” or another approving phrase in bed does it for you, you may be into praise.Pregnant Sex: Sex during pregnancy.Primal Play: A form of kink centered on instinct, physicality, and uninhibited sexual expression. It can involve dynamics like chasing, wrestling, growling, biting, or predator/prey role-play, depending on what consenting partners enjoy.Queening: A slang term for face-sitting.Quickie: Sex that happens in a relatively short amount of time, often with little buildup.Rainbow Kiss: A form of fluid play that typically involves two partners performing oral sex on each other while one person is menstruating, then kissing afterward and exchanging menstrual blood and semen.Relationship Anarchy: Also called “RA,” relationship anarchy is an approach to relationships that rejects predetermined hierarchies and conventional rules in favor of agreements created by the people involved.Reverse-Cowgirl: A sex position similar to cowgirl, except the partner on top straddles the receiving partner while facing away from them.Rimming: Also called a rim job or analingus, rimming is oral stimulation of the anus.Roaching: A dating term for when someone hides the fact that they’re dating other people, then claims they never agreed to be exclusive when confronted about it.Roster: A dating term for having multiple casual romantic and/or sexual partners at the same time. Someone’s “roster” might include different people they’re casually seeing, hooking up with, or talking to without necessarily being exclusive with any of them.Rough Sex: A broad term for consensual sex that involves more intense physical sensations or behaviors, such as spanking, biting, hair pulling, scratching, or forceful penetration. What qualifies as “rough” varies from person to person, so partners should communicate about boundaries and consent beforehand.Rusty Trombone: A sex act that combines rimming and a hand job at the same time.Sapiosexual: A term for someone who considers intelligence a major factor in sexual or romantic attraction. The label can be controversial, particularly when intelligence is treated as an objective measure or tied to education, class, or other forms of privilege.Sex-Repulsed: A term describing someone who feels repulsion, discomfort, or aversion toward sex or sexual activity. It’s commonly used within the asexual community, though being sex-repulsed isn’t itself a sexual orientation.Sexual Frustration: Feelings of frustration, dissatisfaction, or distress that can arise when someone’s sexual wants or needs aren’t being met.Shocker: A slang term for simultaneously inserting two fingers into the vagina and one finger into the anus. Despite the name’s origins in the idea of “surprising” someone with anal penetration, any sexual activity involving anal penetration requires consent.Shrimping: A slang term for sucking on a partner’s toes.Situationship: A romantic or sexual relationship that exists without clearly defined labels, expectations, or commitment.Sixty-Nine (69): A sex position in which two people simultaneously perform oral sex on each other.Snowballing: A sex act in which one person ejaculates into a partner’s mouth and the semen is then passed between partners through kissing.Solo Poly: Short for “solo polyamory,” a relationship style in which someone is open to having multiple romantic and/or sexual relationships while prioritizing their independence and autonomy rather than pursuing traditional relationship milestones like marriage or cohabitation.Spooning: A position in which two people lie on their sides facing the same direction, with one person’s back against the other’s front. The person on the inside is the “little spoon,” while the person on the outside is the “big spoon.”Squirting: The release of fluid through the urethra during sexual arousal or stimulation, sometimes before or during orgasm.Strap-On: A sex toy consisting of a dildo worn with a harness or other wearable system. Strap-ons can be used for vaginal or anal penetration, among other kinds of sexual play.Submarining: A dating term for when someone who previously disappeared from your life suddenly resurfaces and acts as though no time—or ghosting—has passed.Talking Stage: The early, not-quite-official stage of a potential romantic relationship when two people are regularly communicating and getting to know each other but haven’t necessarily defined the relationship or committed to dating.Tantric Sex: A broad term for sexual practices influenced by Tantra that may incorporate elements like mindfulness, breathwork, meditation, eye contact, and intentional touch to deepen connection and awareness during sex.Teabagging: A sex act in which someone places their scrotum on or against another person’s face or mouth.Temperature Play: A form of sensation play that uses heat and/or cold to create different physical sensations and heighten arousal.Thigh Job: A sex act in which someone’s genitals are stimulated between or against a partner’s thighs.Threesome: Sexual activity involving three people.Venus Butterfly (technique): A sex technique that combines oral stimulation of the vulva and clitoris with manual stimulation at the same time.Vers: Short for “versatile,” a term commonly used to describe someone who enjoys both topping and bottoming during sex. In BDSM contexts, someone who enjoys both dominant and submissive roles is more commonly called a “switch.”Vibrator: A sex toy that uses vibration to create sexual stimulation. Depending on its design, a vibrator may be intended for external stimulation, internal vaginal use, anal use, or some combination thereof.Yoni: A Sanskrit term with meanings related to the womb, vulva, female reproductive organs, and the feminine generative principle. In some modern sexual-wellness contexts, it’s used as a term for the vulva and/or vagina.Yoni Massage: A practice associated with some modern tantric and sexual-wellness traditions that involves intentional massage of the vulva and, sometimes, the vagina for pleasure, relaxation, exploration, or increased bodily awareness.