Gay slang
Gay slang refers to slang used predominantly among gay and lesbian people.
Slang frequently arises from the need of a particular subculture to create or maintain secrecy or to describe situations, acts and things not common in the dominant culture.
Assimilation and use of the slang also gives individuals the feeling of belonging necessary in the creation of a subculture.
Many terms that were originally gay slang have become part of the popular lexicon. Along with other terms, the term “drag,” originally a Polari (British gay slang) word, was popularized by Hubert Selby, Jr in his book Last Exit to Brooklyn. He is also the author of Requiem for a Dream.
A
* Ambisextrous – bisexual (occasionally “ambisexual”)
* Aroma — poppers, amyl nitrite
B
* Baby dyke — A young, inexperienced and/or boyish lesbian
* Back room/backroom – A darkened room set aside for sex (sometimes group sex) in a club, bar or bathhouse
* Bareback – unprotected sex, especially anal sex
* Baths – gay bathhouses or saunas
* Bear – a hairy, often overweight, frequently bearded man
* Bicurious – a heterosexual who wishes to “experiment” with their sexuality
* Blanche – a term of endearment (see Mary)
* Bottom – the receptive partner in anal sex; the submissive partner
* Breeder – derogatory term for a heterosexual person
* Bugchaser – an HIV negative individual who seeks to be infected with the virus, generally through unprotected receptive anal sex; see also Gift. Also bugchasing.
* Bulldagger – a butch lesbian who dresses and behaves in a masculine fashion
* Bulldyke – see Bulldagger
* Butch – masculine
C
* Camp – ironic, affected, frequently effeminate behaviour; stereotypical gay behaviour; ironically bitchy. Also Camping, Camping it up
* CBT – Cock and Ball Torture
* Chicken – a young, teenage, boyish, or young-looking gay male; an underage boy
* Chicken hawk – an older man who prefers younger men; occasionally: a paedophile
* Circuit party – one of several huge parties for gay men held in various locations throughout North America each year (the circuit).
* The Closet – the figurative hiding place of gays and lesbians who are not open about their homosexuality
* Coming out (of the closet) – revealing one’s homosexuality
* Cruise – to look for a sex partner in areas known for this activity; to stare at someone with the intention of attracting his or her attention; flirt
* Cruisy – a place that is known as a Cruising spot
* Cub – a younger bear
* Cottage – a public lavatory (particularly in British English)
* Cottaging – having sex in public lavatories (still widely known, but falling into disuse)
* Cut – circumcised
D
* Daddy – an older, frequently larger, sometimes bearish man (or occasionally, woman) who takes a fatherly role in the relationship
E
* English – caning for sexual pleasure
F
* F2M/FTM – a transsexual man (from “female To male”)
* Fag/Faggot – an effeminate boy or man; a male homosexual (used in the same way as nigger by some black Americans)
* Fag Hag – a woman who prefers the company of gay men; the female best friend of a gay man (sometimes considered pejorative)
* Fay/Fey – effeminate
* Fem/Femme – feminine; effeminate
* Feltch – ejaculating in another person’s anus and then rimming the person
* Fish – derogatory word for a woman
* Flame – to behave in an extremely effeminate, campy manner. Also Flamer, Flaming
* Friend of Dorothy – a homosexual (refers to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, or possibly to Dorothy Parker)
* Fuck buddy – someone with whom one has sex but with whom one is not involved in a relationship
* Fur – body hair
G
* GAM – Gay Asian Male
* GBM – Gay Black Male
* Gaydar – the supposed ability to detect another peron’s homosexuality by just observing. Also Doppler Gaydar (from the character Jack in the TV show Will & Grace) and the name of a dating website.
* Glory hole – a hole used for anonymous sexual activity, often in a public lavatory
* Greek – anal sex
* Gift – an STD, usually HIV. Used by a particular subset of Barebackers who actively seek HIV infection; see Bugchaser.
* Gift giver – someone who passes on an STD, usually HIV. Used by a particular subset of Barebackers who actively seek HIV infection; see Bugchaser.
* GLBT – Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered
* GM – Gay Male
* Gym Bunny/Gym Queen – a gay man who works out in a gym
* GWM – Gay White Male
H
* Handballing – Fisting
* Het – heterosexual
* Heteroflexible – bisexual with a hetero dominance, see bicurious
* Hung – well endowed
L
* Label Queen – a gay man who prefers designer clothing
* Lesbigay/LesBiGay – Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay
* Lipstick Lesbian – a feminine lesbian
M
* M2F, MTF – a transsexual woman (from “male to female”)
* M2M – Male to Male (sex)
* Mary – an effeminte gay man; a term of endearment (often used in a similar way to “fag”) (see Blanche)
* Meat – penis
* Muscle Mary – a gay man who works out in a gym (see Gym Bunny/Gym Queen); a muscular yet effeminate gay man
* Muscle Queen – a man who prefers muscular men
N
* Neg – HIV- (HIV negative)
O
* Otter – a gay or bisexual man who meets the description of a bear, except being of normal or sub-normal weight
* Out/Out of the Closet – a person who is openly homosexual
* To Out/Outing – publicly disclosing another person’s homosexuality, usually against their will or without their knowledge
P
* Pass – passing means to appear correctly as something, for example a gay man can “pass” as heterosexual or a male-to-female transsexual can “pass” as a woman
* Pos/Poz – HIV+ (HIV positive)
* Potato queen – coined as the opposite of “rice queen”: an Asian man who prefers white men (sometimes considered pejorative)
Q
* Queen – an effeminate gay man; a drag queen
R
* Rent/Rent boy – a male prostitute (ie “working to pay the rent”); noun and verb.
* Rice queen – a non-Asian man who prefers Asians (sometimes considered pejorative)
* Rimming – licking the anus of a sex partner
S
* The Scene – the gay club circuit
* Scene Queen – a gay man who loves to party
* Seeker – a man who seeks infection with an STD (usually HIV). See Gift, Gift Giver, Bugchaser.
* Size queen – a man who prefers large penises
* Sister – a term of endearment between gay men and drag queens (see Blanche, Mary)
* Smooth – hairless
* Straight – heterosexual
* Stud – a promiscuous gay man or butch lesbian
T
* Tearoom – a public lavatory where men meet for sex
* Tranny/Trannie – transgendered person (considered offensive by some)
* Top – the insertive partner in anal sex; the dominant partner
* Tourist – a (usually heterosexual) person who visits known gay areas to “look”
* Trick – a prostitute’s customer (a John); a sex partner; a sexual act for money; to have sex
* Troll – to walk around looking for sex (cruise); an older or undesirable men; a man in a bathhouse or cruising area who continues to make advances even when rebuffed
* Twink/Twinky/Twinkie – a young or young-looking man, especially those who are slender and clean cut
U
* Uncut – uncircumcised
V
* Versatile – a person who will take either top or bottom positions in sex
W
* Water Sports/Watersports – urine fetish
* Well Hung – see Hung
Y
* Yestergay – a person who identified as gay in the past, but who does so no longer
External links
* GLTB Slang Dictionary
* Polari: British Gay Slang
* Queer Slang in the Gay 90’s
* Dictionary of Gay Slang and Historical Terms
* GAY SLANG DICTIONARY
* qWords — names for queers
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