LGBT slang
LGBT slang, LGBT speak, or gay slang is a set of slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBT people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBT community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.
History and context
Because of sodomy laws and threat of prosecution due to the criminalization of homosexuality, LGBT slang has served as an argot or cant, a secret language and a way for the LGBT community to communicate with each other publicly without revealing their sexual orientation to others. Since the advent of queer studies in universities, LGBT slang and argot has become a subject of academic research among linguistic anthropology scholars.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 LGBT communities. 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 LGBT 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" and "tearoom" 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 LGBT 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 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.
English terms
| Term | Meaning | Region | References |
| 100-footer | an obviously gay or lesbian person | US | |
| ac/dc | bisexual+ | US | |
| ace | short for someone who identifies on the asexual spectrum | global | |
| aro | short for someone who identifies on the aromantic spectrum | global | |
| aroace | short for someone who identifies as both aromantic and asexual | global | |
| ace of spades | someone who identifies as an aromantic asexual | global | |
| ace of hearts | someone who identifies as a romantic asexual | global | |
| artiste | a gay man who excels at fellatio | US | |
| auntie | an older, often effeminate and gossipy gay man | US | |
| baby butch | a young, boyish lesbian | US | |
| baby dyke | a young or recently out lesbian | US | |
| baths | bathhouses frequented by gay men for sexual encounters | US | |
| bathsheba | a gay man who frequents gay bathhouses | US | |
| batty boy | a slur for gay or effeminate man | Jamaica | |
| beach bitch | a gay man who frequents beaches and resorts for sexual encounters | US | |
| bear | a large, often hairy, gay man | global | |
| bear chaser | a man who pursues bears | US | |
| beard | a person used as a date, romantic partner, or spouse to conceal one's sexual orientation | global | |
| bent | gay, as opposed to straight | US | |
| bicon | an iconic bisexual+ individual | US | |
| bi-fi | bisexual+ version of gaydar | U.S. | |
| boi | a boyish lesbian | UK | |
| bottom | a passive male partner in anal intercourse; also used as a verb for the state of receiving sexual stimulation | global | |
| breeder | a heterosexual person, especially one with children | global | |
| brownie queen | a gay man who prefers a passive role in anal intercourse | US | |
| bucket boy | a passive male partner in anal intercourse | US | |
| bull dyke | a mannish lesbian, as opposed to a baby butch or dinky dyke | US | |
| butch, stud | a masculine lesbian | global | |
| cafeteria | repeated fellatio in a backroom or bathhouse | US | |
| camp, campy | effeminacy, effeminate | global | |
| carpet muncher, rug muncher | a lesbian | global | |
| chicken | a young man or underage boy | global | |
| chicken dinner | the act of inflating an underage boy | US | |
| chicken hawk, chicken queen | a man who seeks or preys on underage boys | US | |
| chubby chaser | a man who seeks obese males | US | |
| clone | a San Francisco or New York Greenwich Village denizen with exaggerated macho behavior and appearance | US | |
| closeted | keeping one's sexuality a secret from others | US | |
| cocksucker | a person who practices fellatio, usually a gay male | US | |
| come out | to admit or publicly acknowledge oneself as non-heterosexual/non-cisgender | US | |
| Copenhagen capon | a transsexual person | US | |
| cottage | a public toilet | UK | |
| cottaging | having or seeking anonymous gay sex in a public toilet | UK | |
| cotton ceiling | lesbian refusal to have sex with a trans woman, particularly if the trans woman has not undergone sex reassignment surgery | global | |
| cruising | seeking a casual gay sex encounter | global | |
| cub | a typically heavier, hairier, and younger gay man | global | |
| daddy | a typically older gay man | US | |
| doe/stag | a feminine bisexual woman | - | |
| down-low | homosexual or bisexual activity, kept secret, by men who have sex with men | US | |
| dyke | a masculine lesbian; originally a slur, reclaimed in the 1970s | global | |
| dykon | a celebrity woman who is seen as an icon by lesbians; may or may not be a lesbian herself | US | |
| egg | a transgender person who hasn't realized they're trans yet. 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. | global | |
| enby | a non-binary person. the term derives from the abbreviation 'NB' | US | |
| en femme, en homme | the act of wearing clothes stereotypically of the opposite sex | global | |
| fag, faggot | a slur against gay men and some transgender women | global | |
| fag hag | a woman who associates mostly or exclusively with gay and bisexual men | US | |
| fairy | a stereotypically gay man; originally a slur, reclaimed in the 1960s | global | |
| femme | a feminine lesbian | US | |
| fish | a drag queen who is effeminate enough to pass as a CIS woman | ||
| flamer | an effeminate gay man | global | |
| friend of Dorothy | a gay man | US | |
| fruit | a slur against gay men; originally a stereotype of gay men as "softer" and "smelling good" | global | |
| fudgepacker | a gay man; considered a slur | global | |
| gaydar | the intuitive ability of a person to guess someone's sexual orientation | global | |
| gaymer | a gay gamer | global | |
| gaysian | a gay Asian person | global | |
| gold star | a gay or lesbian who has only had sexual coital contact with a member of the same gender | US | |
| heteroflexible | to be mostly heterosexual | global | |
| homoflexible | to be mostly gay | global | |
| horatian | a bisexual male | - | |
| lesbian until graduation | a woman who experiments with bisexual or homosexual activity during school only | global | |
| lipstick lesbian | an effeminate lesbian | global | |
| muff-diver | a lesbian | global | |
| otter | a thinner, hairier gay man | US | |
| packing | the act of wearing padding or a phallic object to present the appearance of a penis | global | |
| passing | the act of being perceived by others as one's preferred gender identity | global | |
| pillow princess | a lesbian who prefers to receive sexual stimulation | US | |
| poz | a usually gay, HIV-positive person | US | |
| 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 | global | |
| queen | an effeminate gay man; commonly used in compounds such as "drag queen" or "rice queen" | global | |
| queer | originally a slur against homosexuals, transgender people, and anyone who does not fit society's standards of gender and sexuality; recently reclaimed and used as umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities | global | |
| soft butch, stem, stemme | an androgynous lesbian, in between femme and butch | US | |
| stone butch | a very masculine lesbian, or a butch lesbian who does not receive touch during intercourse, only giving | US | |
| swish | effeminate or effeminacy | US | |
| terf | "trans-exclusionary radical feminist", a person opposed to trans persons or issues; considered a slur by its targets | global | |
| tomcat | masculine bisexual woman | - | |
| top | the dominant or inserting sexual partner, usually in a homosexual relation or activity | US | |
| twink | a small or young-looking, bodily hairless man | global | |
| U-Haul lesbian | a lesbian who quickly moves to cohabitation | US | |
| unicorn | a bisexual person who prefers to hook up with opposite sex couples | US | |
| verse, 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 | global | |
| wolf | a man who tends to fall evenly between a fox/twink or a bear/cub | UK |
Other languages
African languages
Gayle is a gay argot or cant slang used primarily by English- and Afrikaans-speakers in urban South Africa. It is similar in some respects to Polari in the United Kingdom, from which some of its lexical items have been borrowed.IsiNgqumo is an argot used by gays and lesbians of South Africa and Zimbabwe who speak Bantu languages. IsiNgqumo developed during the 1980s. It has not been as thoroughly researched or documented as Gayle.
Chinese
| Term | Meaning | References |
| 同志 | An LGBT person/ gay person/ comrade | |
| 女同（Nǚtóng） | Lesbian | |
| 双性恋（shuāngxìngliàn） | Bisexual | |
| 变性人 （biànxìngrén） | Transgender | |
| 拉拉 | Lesbian | |
| P | femme lesbian | |
| T | butch lesbian | |
| H | Between butch and femme lesbian | |
| 基佬 （jīlǎo） | Gay guy | |
| G/基友 （jīyǒu | Lesbian | |
| 蕾丝边 | Lesbian |
Hebrew (modern Israeli)
| Term | Meaning | Origin | Source |
| Okhtsch, Okhtscha, yakhti | Sis, sister, as used by a gay man or a trans woman to another gay man or trans woman. | From the Arabic word for sister, ookht | |
| Bor | A 'hole' that's been with a lot of men | From the Hebrew word for hole, 'ħor' | |
| Hores, Mehares | Term of amazement, usually for something that is beyond fabulous | From the Hebrew word for 'to destroy', 'laharos' | |
| Wej | Face | From the Arabic word for face, weja | |
| Viezha | An older gay man/trans woman | From the Ladino word for old, vieja | |
| ħor, kusit | A hot bottom | From the Hebrew words for hole and Hebrew slang term for sexy | |
| Tarimi | 'Look at you go!', similar to English LGBT slang 'slay!' | From the Hebrew word for 'to raise', Leharim | |
| Jordal | Gan Ha'Atzma'ut in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Be'er Sheva where cruising usually occurs | From the French words Jardin liberté and bordel. | |
| Lird | A very attractive man | From the English word 'lord' | |
| Lelarler | To speak endlessly, to argue on the phone | An onomatopoeia | |
| Marmara | Grumpiness, bitterness | From the Turkish flotilla ship Mavi Marmara, which sounds similar to the Hebrew word for grumpy/bitter, 'memormeret' | |
| Nesh | Feminine | From the Hebrew word for feminine, nashit | |
| Falsh, falshit | Someone who's fake | From the German word falsch | |
| Jonj | Penis | An original term |
Indonesian
Bahasa Binan is a distinctive Indonesian speech variety originating from the gay community. It has several regular patterns of word formation, well-documented in both speech and writing.Japanese
Although many slang words used in modern Japan are loanwords from American English, many native Japanese slang words remain in Japan's LGBT community.| Term | Meaning | References |
| , | lesbian | |
| a homosexual person | ||
| gay | ||
| homosexual | ||
| homosexual | ||
| a gay man | ||
| a lesbian | ||
| lesbian | ||
| ryoutoutsukai | a bisexual |
Tagalog
Swardspeak is an argot or cant slang derived from Taglish and used by LGBT people in the Philippines. It deliberately transforms or creates words that resemble words from other languages, particularly English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. It is colorful, witty, and humorous, with vocabularies derived from popular culture and regional variations.Thai
| Term | Meaning | References |
| kathoey | a trans woman or effeminate gay man | |
| phuying | a trans woman |