Gay Slang 247 Gay Terms & Gay Terminology

Gay slang and gay terms, sometimes called "gayspeak", are words used mostly among gay men, with roots in Polari.

Slang like this usually grows from a group's need for secrecy, from a want of acceptance or fear of prejudice, or to describe things the wider culture doesn't have words for. Here are the terms you'll see most in gay ads.

Gay slang: what the ads mean

• Abigail: a middle-aged gay man who's in the closet, or has a conservative approach to love and life
• Abort: to need the toilet soon after anal sex
• A-buck: an anal sex position, lying with the legs up over the head, which lets partners kiss
• A-gay: short for "A-list gay", an affluent, well-connected gay man
• Aroma: poppers (amyl nitrites)
• Assy: bitchy, nasty
• Aunt or auntie: an older gay man
• Backroom: a darkened room for sex, sometimes group sex, in a gay bar, club or sauna
• Bareback: anal sex without a condom; see gay bareback contacts
• Bean juice: fluid around the anus
• Bear: a hairy, often heavier man, frequently with facial hair
• Beard: a partner of the opposite sex someone is seen with to appear straight
• Belly-fucker: rubbing the penis against a partner's body or stomach until orgasm
• Bottom: the receptive partner in anal or other penetrative sex
• Boy (or boi): the submissive in a BDSM scene
• Breeding: cumming inside a partner's arse
• Bull: a big, dominant, very masculine man
• Circle jerk: group masturbation
• Clear: exclusively gay
• Cottage: a public toilet used for cruising, a word used mostly by older men; see gay dogging and cottaging
• Cross-dressing: wearing clothes traditionally worn by the opposite gender
• Cruise: to drive slowly round the streets or walk round bars and parks looking for a sex partner
• Cub: a younger bear
• Cut: circumcised
• Cum: semen or other fluid released at orgasm
• Cumdump: someone who takes loads from one or more men
• Daddy: an older man who spoils his younger lover
• Dogging: having sex with strangers outdoors, usually in a secluded car park; see gay dogging
• Drag: dressing in a way usually identified with the opposite sex
• Facial: cumming over someone's face
• Fag hag: a woman who enjoys hanging out with gay men
• Felching: sucking cum from a partner's arse
• Flaming: very openly gay, with stereotypically camp behaviour
• Frottage: rubbing against someone for pleasure without penetration
• Fuck buddy: someone you see mainly for sex
• Gaydar: the knack of spotting someone else is gay
• Gayskin: a gay skinhead
• Gift: slang for a sexually transmitted infection
• Glory hole: a hole in a partition between cubicles or rooms, used for anonymous sex
• Greek: anal sex
• Homoflexible: mostly gay, but open to the opposite sex
• Jock: a sporty, athletic young gay man
• Jockey: the insertive partner in anal or oral sex
• Mangina: a gay bottom's arse
• Mantique: an attractive gay man over 50
• Master: the dominant in a BDSM scene; see gay masters
• Natural: uncircumcised, or having sex without a condom
• Otter: a slim, hairy man, often into bears
• Out: open about your sexuality
• Package: the bulge in a man's clothes
• Pig: a gay man with very few sexual inhibitions; see gay slaves
• Pitcher: the insertive or dominant partner in anal sex
• Polar bear: a bear with grey body and facial hair
• Pre-op: a trans person who hasn't had surgery but intends to
• Queen: an effeminate gay man; at the extreme, a drag queen
• Raw: anal sex without a condom
• Rimming: licking a partner's arse
• S&M: sadism and masochism, taking pleasure from giving or receiving pain; see gay slaves
• Seed: to cum inside someone, especially anally
• Shrimping: toe-sucking
• Snowball: passing cum back into the mouth of the man who shot it
• Shemale: a term used in adult ads for trans women, which many trans people find offensive; see shemale contacts
• Top: the insertive partner in anal or other penetrative sex
• Tossed salad: rimming
• Transsexual: someone who lives permanently as the opposite gender to the one assigned at birth
• Tranny: an old term for a trans person or transvestite, now widely seen as offensive; see transvestite personals
• Twink: a slim, young-looking, clean-cut man with little body hair
• Uncut: uncircumcised
• Vanilla: conventional sex, as opposed to S&M
• Versatile: happy to top or bottom
• Wank buddy: a mate you meet just for mutual masturbation
• Wolf: an attractive man who isn't a bear, a word used mostly by bears
• Yestergay: someone who used to identify as gay but says he no longer does

Now you know the lingo, check out our gay personals.

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