What Does 'DSL' Mean? The Slang Acronym About Lips Explained

The post-Y2K turn toward text-speak inspired a slew of internet slang acronyms in the 2000s, with each effort to save a modicum of text space inevitably spawning a whole new word. Amid all the LOLs and ROFLs were also some naughtier words you definitely had to encrypt in an oughts-era text, including the term DSL.

Often used to describe well-endowed or pleasingly shaped lips, the term DSL stands for the phrase Dick Sucking Lips. Here's a recap of how the acronym spread online in the mid-2000s, and why it had a sudden resurgence in the early 2020s.

Where Does The Term 'DSL' Come From?

The acronym "DSL" may precede the internet as we know it, but the meaning of the term was first recorded online on Urban Dictionary by a user named Tray who wrote, "Missy Eliot has DSL."

How Did The Term 'DSL' Spread Online?

The term "DSL" was defined and described on various internet dictionaries in the 2000s, and often deployed to describe beautiful and full-lipped women. The phrase saw particular usage on Reddit, as seen in the posts from 2010 and 2013 shown below.

In May 2015, Khloe Kardashian made a post where she joked about having "DSLs," gathering over 290,000 likes in nine years. This post is perhaps one of the first majorly viral pieces of content to use the acronym, spurring usage of the term into the early 2020s.

In 2023, TikTokers began using the term DSL to refer to themselves, confusing younger audiences unfamiliar with the phrase. This led to a renewed interest in the term in the new decade and spawned a series of videos where women reacted to being told they have "DSLs" or reacted to learning what the term means.

For the full history of the term DSL, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.