LGBTQ slang

LGBTQ slang, LGBTQ speak, queer slang, or gay slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.

LGBTQ slang has played an integral part in LGBTQ culture for decades. Slang language initially emerged as a way for queer people to communicate with one another while avoiding detection by mainstream society. Queer people have always existed, but historically, they have had to be discreet about their identities and lives, particularly when being LGBTQ was illegal and or socially condemned.

LGBTQ slang is used as a way to signal one's identity and build solidarity within the community. When queer people use these certain words and phrases, they demonstrate to others that they are part of the LGBTQ community and share a common experience. This connection can create a sense of belonging for those historically rejected and isolated by mainstream society.

LGBTQ slang is also used by the community as a means of reclaiming language and deconstructing oppressive norms. Queer slang often includes playful references to sexual acts, which can serve as an assertion of sexual agency and a rejection of shame.

History and context

Because of sodomy laws and threat of prosecution due to the criminalization of homosexuality, LGBTQ slang has served as an argot or cant, a secret language and a way for the LGBTQ community to communicate with each other publicly without revealing their sexual orientation to others. Since the advent of queer studies in universities, LGBTQ slang and argot has become a subject of academic research among linguistic anthropology scholars.

The Butch and Femme society

During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres of the United Kingdom within established LGBTQ communities. Polari was featured on the BBC radio programme Round the Horne in 1964, exposing the wider public to the secret language. Although there are differences, contemporary British gay slang has adopted many Polari words. The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang in the United States at that time. SCRUFF launched a gay-slang dictionary app in 2014, which includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community. Specialized dictionaries that record LGBTQ slang have been found to revolve heavily around sexual matters.

Slang is ephemeral; terms used in one generation may pass out of usage in another. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, the terms "cottage" (chiefly British) and "tearoom" (chiefly American) were used to denote public toilets used for sex. By 1999, this terminology had fallen out of use to the point of being greatly unrecognizable by members of the LGBTQ community at large.

Many terms that originated as gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. For example, the word drag was popularized by Hubert Selby Jr. in his book Last Exit to Brooklyn. Drag has been traced back by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the late 19th Century. Conversely, words such as "banjee", while well-established in a subset of gay society, have never made the transition to popular use. Conversations between gay men have been found to use more slang and fewer commonly known terms about sexual behavior than conversations between straight men.

In the Philippines, many LGBTQ people speak with Swardspeak, or "gay lingo", which is a more extensive use of slang as a form of dialect or way of speaking. Other argots are spoken in southern Africa (Gayle language and IsiNgqumo) and Indonesia (Bahasa Binan). More specifically, in a country like Thailand, LGBTQ slang was always present in their history due to their religious, behavioral, and social nature. However, before the term LGBTQ was introduced, the Thai community would use the terms Kathoey and Tom. The term Kathoey was used to describe transgender women who dress, act, or partake in surgery to become female, and the term Tom as well as "handsome girls" in Thai was used to describe women who liked women. Homosexuality and transgenderism has always existed throughout their history, as their behavioral nature did not align with heterosexual ideals.

General slang terms

• 100-footer – an obviously gay or lesbian person (as if visible from 100 feet away) (US)
• Achillean or MLM (man-loving-man) – an umbrella term for attractions and relationships between men, regardless of their sexual or romantic orientation, sometimes including non-binary androphiles
• baths – bathhouses frequented by gay men for sexual encounters (US)
• beach bitch – a gay man who frequents beaches and resorts for sexual encounters (US)
• beard – a person used as a date, romantic partner, or spouse to conceal one's sexual orientation
• beat – an area frequented by gay men, where sexual acts occur (Australia)
• bent – gay, as opposed to straight (UK)
• bender – someone who has homosexual intercourse (UK)
• binding – a technique in which individuals wear tight clothing, bandages, or compression garments, known as binders, to hide and flatten their breasts
• bottom – a receptive partner in intercourse; also used as a verb for the state of receiving sexual stimulation
  • power bottom – someone who dominantly or energetically plays the receptive role in intercourse
• bussy – portmanteau of "boy pussy"; a male anus, in the context of anal sex. Also used to refer to a trans man's vulva
• butch queen – in ball culture, a gay male who presents as a gay male; that is, neither as a trans individual nor a heteronormative male. This mostly refers to someone who looks the part of what most would identify as “gay”
• butchy femme – a gender expression between femme and futch
• camp, campy – exaggerated and amusing, in a way that is typically associated with gay men or femininity
• clone – a San Francisco or New York Greenwich Village denizen with exaggerated macho behavior and appearance (US)
• closeted – keeping one's sexuality or gender identity a secret from others
• cocksucker – a person who practices fellatio, usually a gay male
• come out (of the closet) – to admit or publicly acknowledge oneself as non-heterosexual/non-cisgender
• cottaging – having or seeking anonymous gay sex in a public toilet, or 'cottage' (UK)
• cruising – seeking a casual gay sex encounter (historically from ancient Rome)
• down-low – homosexual or bisexual activity, kept secret, by men who have sex with men (US)
• en femme, en homme – the act of wearing clothes stereotypically of the opposite sex
• femboy – a feminine or androgynous male
• femme – a feminine homosexual
• folx – a shorter alternative to folks
• futch – a gender expression between femme and butch, or a feminine butch
• Game of Flats – an 18th-century English term for sex between women
• gaydar – the supposed ability to detect someone's sexual orientation (from gay + radar). Corresponding terms include lesdar, bidar, transdar, and queerdar. Bidar is also called Bi-Fi, a jocular pun on Wi-Fi.
• gaymer – an LGBTQIA+ person who plays video games (from gay + gamer)
• gaysian – a gay Asian person
• girlfag – a woman attracted to gay/bisexual men, also may refer to some gay men or non-binary people
• gold star – a homosexual who has never had heterosexual sexual intercourse
• gouinage (Brazil) – non-penetrative sex. Named after gouine, similar to side.
• g0y – men attracted to men but don't identify as gay and isn't willing to do anal intercourse
• guydyke or lesboy – a man attracted to lesbian/bisexual women, also may be used to refer to a non-binary person
• heteroflexible – to be mostly heterosexual
• homoflexible – to be mostly gay
• Molly – In 18th century England, the term "molly" was used for male homosexuals, implying effeminacy. See Molly house
• outsider – being "neither/nor" when it comes to normative taboos and self-centered communities
• platinum star gay – gay men who were born by a C-section procedure
• poz – HIV-positive person (US)
• queer – originally a slur against homosexuals, transgender people, and anyone who does not fit society's standards of gender and sexuality; later reclaimed and used as umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities
• sapphic or WLW (woman-loving-woman) – used to encompass attractions and relationships between women, regardless of their sexual or romantic orientation, sometimes including non-binary gynephiles
• scissoring – used to refer to lesbian intercourse, though is often derogatory
• side – a homosexual male who does not enjoy anal penetration (giving or receiving), but will engage in other forms of same-sex activity (fellatio, frottage, handjobs, etc.).
• swish – effeminate or effeminacy (US)
• switch – a person who enjoys both topping and bottoming, or being dominant and submissive, and may alternate between the two in sexual situations, adapting to their partner. Synonymous with vers
• slay – especially in ball culture to dress or be fashionable and flawless
• tomgirl – the equivalent of a tomboy, but for boys with feminine traits
• top – the dominant or inserting sexual partner, usually in a homosexual relation or activity
  • service top – a submissive top, someone who applies sensation or control to a bottom, but does so at the bottom's explicit instructions
• tongzhi (同志, "comrade", lit. "same will, same purpose") – a term used to describe members of LGBTQ communities in some Chinese languages
• trade – a straight-passing male partner, commonly used by gay men or trans women (derived from Polari) (US)
• vers – a person who enjoys both topping and bottoming, or being dominant and submissive, and may alternate between the two in sexual situations, adapting to their partner

Terms describing gay men

Bears at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City

• artiste – a gay man who excels at fellatio
• auntie – an older, often effeminate and gossipy gay man
• bathsheba – a gay man who frequents gay bathhouses
• boykisser
• chicken – a youthful gay man
• chubby chaser – a man who seeks overweight males
• daddy – a typically older gay man
• flit
• flower – a typically effeminate gay man
• friend of Dorothy – a gay person. Historically used as a shibboleth to identify other LGBTQ people. Likely a reference to Judy Garland, who portrayed Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and had a large gay fan-base
• gaysian – a gay Asian
• light in the loafers / light in the pants / light in the fedora
• punk – a smaller, younger gay man who, in prison settings, is forced into a submissive role and used for the older inmate's sexual pleasure
• queen – a flamboyant or effeminate gay man. Alternatively, short for drag queen
  • bean queen (also taco queen or Salsa queen), gay man attracted to Hispanic men
  • brownie queen – obsolete slang for gay man interested in anal sex (used by men who disliked anal sex)
  • chicken queen – an older gay man interested in younger or younger appearing men
  • grey queen – a gay person who works in financial services; grey flannel suits)
  • potato queen – a gay Asian man attracted mainly to white men
  • rice queen – a gay man attracted mainly to East Asian men
• twink − a youthful, flamboyant gay man with a slim physique

Slurs against gay men

• anal assassin (UK) or "anal astronaut"
• arse bandit or ass bandit
• backgammon player (late 18th century Britain)
• batty boy – a slur for gay or effeminate man (Jamaica and United Kingdom)
• bent, bentshot or bender
• bixa/bicha (Brazil)
• brownie king / brown piper
• bufter, bufty (mainly Scottish) or booty buffer
• bum boy / bum chum, also bum robber
• butt pirate, butt boy, butt rider, butt pilot, or butt rustler
• chi chi man (Jamaica and the Caribbean)
• cockstruction worker – a gay, bi or queer man who works in construction industry
• faggot / fag – slur against gay men. First recorded in a Portland, Oregon publication in 1914
• fairy – a slur reclaimed by gay men in the 1960s
• finocchio (from Italy, meaning fennel)
• flamer
• fruit (also fruit loop, fruit packer, butt fruit) – a slur against gay men; originally a stereotype of gay men as "softer" and "smelling good"
• fudge packer
• homo – shortening of homosexual, it is sometimes derogatory, though also used in a reclaimed sense by some LGBTQ people
• homo thug
• maricón or marica (in Spanish)
• nancy boy
• nelly / nellie – an effeminate gay man
• pansy
• poof/poofta/poofter (Commonwealth)
• sod (from sodomy)
• uphill gardener
• viado or veado – a gay male or an effeminate man (lit., a corrupted form of "deer", derived from desviado, meaning deviant) (Brazil)

Terms describing lesbians

A member of the Dykes on Bikes motorcycle club

• baby butch – a young, boyish lesbian
• baby dyke – a young or recently out lesbian
• bambi lesbian – a lesbian who prefers cuddles, hugs, kisses, and other affectionate and sensual non-sexual acts over sexual acts
• bean flicker – Likening the clitoris to a bean
• bluff – butch fluff
• boi – a boyish lesbian (UK)
• boydyke – a lesbian with male presentation
• bull dyke – a masculine lesbian, as opposed to a baby butch or dinky dyke (UK (somewhat archaic), US)
• butch – a masculine lesbian
  • long-haired butch (LHB) – a butch with long hair
• carpet muncher (or "rug muncher")
• dyke ("bull dyke", "bull dagger", alternatively "bulldagger", "bulldicker"), from 1920s black American slang. A slur reclaimed by women who are attracted to women in the 1950s
  • diesel dyke
  • drag dyke
• dykon – portmanteau of dyke + icon. A celebrity woman who is seen as an icon by lesbians; may or may not be a lesbian herself
• fluff – femme
• gouine (in French)
• hasbian / has-bian – a woman who previously identified as lesbian but now identifies as heterosexual or bisexual.
• kiki – a term used primarily from the 1940s until the 1960s to indicate a lesbian who was not butch or femme and did not have a preference for either butch or femme partners
• kitty puncher / pussy puncher – with both "kitty" and "pussy" referring to a woman's vulva/vagina, and "puncher" as a variation on various derogatory terms for gay men, such as "donut puncher"
• four year lesbian - see lesbian until graduation
• lesbian until graduation (LUG) – a young woman who is assumed to be temporarily experimenting with same-sex behavior, but will ultimately adopt a heterosexual identity
• lipstick lesbian – a lesbian/bisexual woman who displays historically feminine attributes such as wearing make-up, dresses, and high heels
• muff-diver – a lesbian
• pillow princess – a lesbian who likes to receive sexual stimulation, rather than giving it (to bottom)
• sapatão (Brazil) or fufa (Portugal)
• soft butch – an androgynous lesbian, in between femme and butch
• stem, stemme – someone whose gender expression falls somewhere between a stud and a femme
• stone butch – a very masculine lesbian, or a butch lesbian who does not receive touch during intercourse, only giving (US)
• stud – a black butch

Terms describing bisexual or pansexual people

• AC/DC – reference to "swinging both ways" (US)
• ambisextrous – euphemism for bisexual, derived from ambidextrous
• bicon – portmanteau of bisexual + icon. Used to refer to a bisexual celebrity
• byke – a bisexual dyke
• Gillette Blade – a 1950s era term for bisexual women, whose sexuality "cuts both ways"
• Horatian – in Lord Byron's circle at Cambridge, a code word for "bisexual", more specifically bisexual men.
• unicorn – a bisexual, usually a woman, who desires multiple partners and is willing to join an existing couple and sexually satisfy both members of the couple. So-named because bisexuals willing to enter such an arrangement are considered rare or non-existent, while couples seeking such a partner ("unicorn hunters") are common.

Terms describing androgynous or intersex people

• futanari (ふたなり, "to be of two kinds", seldom: 二形, 双形, lit. "dual form") – Japanese word for hermaphroditism, which is also used in a broader sense for androgyny. The term is also heavily associated with a genre of hentai defined by sexualization of characters simultaneously possessing breasts, a penis and a vulva, and has gained a negative connotation for the sexual connotations
• hermie – an androgynous or intersex person, though the term is often considered a slur.
• altersex – a term describing people who alter their sex, such as through hormone replacement therapy or gender-affirming surgery, who were not born intersex. This term is especially used in the case of people who do not describe their sex as male or female due to their medical transition, without appropriating intersex terminology. Considered derogatory if used to deny the validity of someone's medical transition to male or female
• Salmacian – named after Salmacis, standing for someone who acquires, or wishes to acquire, mixed genitalia

Terms describing transgender and non-binary people

Further information: Attraction to transgender people § Alternative terms

• baby trans – a trans person who recently came out of the closet. The term is a noun
• boymoder – a transgender woman or girl who socially presents in a masculine gender role, typically in places where transgender individuals are discriminated against, or due to not being out as transgender. The equivalent for a trans guy is 'girlmoder'. Many who use this term for themselves or others do not see the individual as a boy, necessarily. Rather, it is a term referring to the public presentation of being a boy/man, regardless of other factors.
• Copenhagen capon – a transsexual; someone who has undergone sex reassignment surgery. The term alludes to Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who underwent sex reassignment surgery in Copenhagen in the 1950s. A capon is a neutered rooster
• diamoric – a term for attractions and relationships involving at least one non-binary individual
• egg – a transgender person who has not yet realized they are trans; used by transgender people when aspects of one's personality or behavior remind them of gender-related aspects of themselves before they realized they were trans. As such, the realization that one is trans is referred to as one's "egg cracking". This may also be used to refer to someone who is questioning their gender but later expresses themself to be cisgender. Although, this seems to be of less common use. Most "egg" related statements either refer to someone's past self, before they would describe themself as transgender. Or, someone believed to be trans, but not open, regardless of whether they say they are at the time. However, this is a risky social move, as, that someone could later still describe themself as cis, be in the closet, or have a nonbinary identity that is neither considered necessarily cis nor trans to them. Or the label of "trans" is not to their liking or has too many connotations attached to it they dislike.
• enbian or NBLNB (also NLN) – a term for attraction and relationship between non-binary people
• enby – a non-binary person. Derived from the abbreviation NB.
• girlmoder – a trans guy who socially presents in a feminine gender role, typically in places where transgender individuals are discriminated against, or due to not being out as transgender. The equivalent for a trans girl is 'boymoder'
• lady boy – English translation of kathoey, similar or equivalent to transgender woman, but may refer to feminine gay men or intersex people
• M2B – male to butch, alluding male-to-female (MtF, also called M2F)
• repressor – a person who is fighting the wish to change their gender expression
• sapatrans or sapatrava (portmanteau of sapatão + trans) – a term used in Brazil for trans lesbians and lesbian travestis
• t-girl – a trans woman (short for "trans girl"). It is often derogatory, due to its association with transgender pornography
• t-boy / t-guy – a trans man (short for "trans boy" and "trans guy")
• tranarchist – a transgender anarchist
• transbian (portmanteau of trans + lesbian) – a transgender lesbian. See also Trans woman § Sexuality.
• transfag – a transgender gay man
• tryke – trans dyke
• tuck - any attempt to hide the appearance of a penis bulge. It is often recommended to use tight clothing and not to use tape or other sticky or sharp objects due to safety concerns.

Slurs against transgender and non-binary people

• shemale – a trans woman with male genitalia and possibly female secondary sex characteristics. Primarily a term used in pornography and often derogatory
• hon – a non-passing transgender woman. This term is primarily used by trans women in online communities (mostly 4chan). It is derogatory
• tranny – slur used for transgender people
• trap — slur for someone whose perceived gender is opposite their anatomical sex, particularly a trans woman or feminine boy. Implies that others who are attracted to them (typically heterosexual men) are maliciously deceived (i.e. "trapped") regarding their "real" gender. Is derogatory and dehumanizing
• troon — portmanteau of "trans" and "goon". Originally a term for members of the Something Awful forum ("goons") who are transgender. Used as a slur for trans women, connoting violent or sinister ulterior motives for transitioning
• cuntboy or pussyboy/dickgirl – a female-to-male (FtM) and male-to-female (MtF) transgender/transsexual person, respectively, who has not had genital surgery. It is often derogatory

Terms related to transgender and non-binary people

See also: Terminology of transgender anatomy

• clock – to recognize someone as being transgender
• deadname – as a noun, a transgender person's birth name. As a verb, to refer to someone by their deadname. The etymologically identical term necronym is also sometimes used with the same meaning
• girldick – a transfeminine person's penis, especially one changed by hormone use. Also known as gick, girlcock, or gock
• malefail – to be gendered as feminine when trying to present in a masculine gender role
• packing – the act of wearing padding or a phallic object to present the appearance of a penis
• passing – to be perceived as a gender one is attempting to pass as. Usually in relation to trans people
• skoliosexual – to describe attraction to non-binary people
• stealth – passing to the extent that most people can't tell that you are trans
• TERF – acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist"; a feminist whose advocacy excludes or opposes the rights of trans people. It also, more infrequently, used to refer to someone hostile to transgender people
• TME or TMA/TMC – transmisogyny-exempt or transmisogyny-affected/confined, ascribing those who are, or not, target of transphobia directed at trans women
• transgenderism – a term used by anti-trans extremists seeking to dehumanize transgender people by saying that being transgender is an ideology rather than an identity. In the past (the mid to late 20th century), the term was used non-derogatorily to refer to being transgender, though this meaning has become obsolete

Terms describing cisgender or heterosexual people

• breeder – a heterosexual person, especially one with children
• cisbian (portmanteau of cis + lesbian) – a cisgender lesbian
• cishet – someone who is cisgender and heterosexual and/or heteroromantic
• cisqueer – someone who is cisgender and queer, such as cis lesbians, cis gay men, and cis bisexuals
• chaser – someone attracted to transgender people who value them for their trans status alone, rather than being attracted to them as a person
• fag hag – a heterosexual woman who specifically associates with gay men
• fag stag – heterosexual man who enjoys company of gay men

Terms describing asexual or aromantic people

• ace – short for asexual
• asexy – asexual + sexy
• aro – short for aromantic
• aroace, aro-ace, aro/ace – both aromantic and asexual
• ace of spades – an aromantic asexual
• ace of hearts – a romantic asexual
• ace of diamond – a demiromantic demisexual
• ace of clubs – a greyromantic greysexual
• SAM – split attraction model – a model that sexual and romantic orientation can be split, often used within the aromantic and asexual community
• squish – a non-romantic or platonic version of crush
• queerplatonic relationship – committed intimate relationships which are not romantic nor (necessarily) sexual in nature
• zucchini – queerplatonic partner

LGBTQ subgroups

Bears marching in San Francisco's pride parade in 2004

The following slang terms have been used to represent various types of people within the LGBTQ community:

• bear – a larger and often hairier man. The bear subgroup is among the oldest and largest of the LGBTQ community. Pride.com states "Bears are on the heavier side, either muscular, beefy, or chunky. They wouldn't dream of shaving their body hair (which comes in abundance) and they usually have a full beard to match." Attitude magazine describes bears as "typically older" with a big build, a belly, and lots of hair. There are many bear 'subtypes', including the black bear (Black or African American men), the brown bear (Hispanic men), the grizzly bear ("dominant bears of extreme stature or hairiness"), the koala bear (Australian men), the panda bear (men of Asian descent), and the polar bear, which represents an older bear with white hair
  • cub – a younger bear. Pride.com describes cubs as "baby bears" or "large, hairy guys in their teens and 20s who are on their way to becoming a bear"
  • bear chaser – a man who pursues bears
  • otter – a man who is slender and hairy
  • wolf – Pride.com says, "Similar to an otter, a wolf has some hair and is in between a twink and a bear. However, there are some key differences between wolves and otters. Wolves typically have a lean, muscular build and are sexually aggressive." Attitude says wolves are "typically older and masculine" with a "muscular/athletic build"
• bull – Pride.com says a bull is a "hunky, muscular" bodybuilder who weighs 200 pounds or more. The website says, "These men are big, strong and have muscles you didn't even know existed." Attitude says bulls have a "super-muscular build" with any hair style, and can be any age
• chicken – a young twink. Attitude says chickens are "hairless and young" with a slim or skinny build
• chickenhawk – a typically older man who seeks younger men. From chickenhawk, a designation for several birds which are thought to hunt chickens
• pig – someone who is "more focused on sex than anything else, often into kinkier and somewhat seedier sexual practices", according to Pride.com
• pup / puppy – in animal roleplay, someone who wants to be treated like a puppy, "with love and affection", by a handler. Attitude says pups are "young and submissive" with a slender build and little hair
• silver fox – an older man with gray hair
• twink – a young or young-looking gay man, with little body hair and a slender build
• twunk – a twink with well-developed physique (from twink + hunk)

See also

• Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric
• Gender transposition
• Handkerchief code
• LGBTQ linguistics
• Terminology of homosexuality

References

Works cited

• Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2006). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J–Z. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-25938-5.
• Dalzell, Tom (2008). The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-19478-0.
• Dynes, Wayne R; Johansson, Warren; Percy, William A; Donaldson, Stephen, eds. (1990). Encyclopedia of homosexuality. New York: Garland Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8240-6544-1.
• Green, Jonathon (2005). Cassell's Dictionary of Slang. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-304-36636-1.

Further reading

• Rodgers, Bruce (1972). The Queens' Vernacular – A Gay Lexicon. Straight Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-87932-026-3. OCLC 508274.
• T., Anna (2020). Opacity - Minority - Improvisation: An Exploration of the Closet Through Queer Slangs and Postcolonial Theory. Bielefeld: Transcript. ISBN 978-3-8376-5133-1.

External links

• Gill, Liz (14 July 2003). "Lavender linguistics". The Guardian. ProQuest 189144744.
• Frederick, Brian J (2012). Partying with a purpose: Finding meaning in an online 'party 'n' play' subculture (Thesis). ProQuest 1346229730.