About

Mlem, also known as a “blep” or “blop,” is an onomatopoeic internet slang term used to describe the act of a dog, cat or other animal sticking out their tongue in a cute or funny manner. The expression started within online communities as part of a trend to create quirky names for animal behavior, referred to as DoggoLingo or "Doggo-Speak."

Origin

Although the exact date this term was first coined online is unknown, it became part of the DoggoLingo lexicon sometime in 2013 or 2014. This internet language is implied to be the animal’s own internal expression of how they would describe the act of licking.

Though perhaps not the first, the earliest online example traces back to an upload on the site Imgur^[1] from user GxlxJane posted on April 23rd, 2014. The post features a GIF of a cat licking water from a faucet with the title “Mlem mlem mlem mlem mlem mlem mlem mlem.” The upload has received over 300,000 views, 11,000 points and 374 comments.

Though sometimes used interchangeably, the term “mlem” differentiates from “blep” in a few different ways, explained in the image below.

Spread

The term continued to spread online in the following years and can be seen in use across several different platforms where users described the actions of various animals licking with “mlem.”

A YouTube^[2] video uploaded on July 15th, 2014, by user icklenellierose (shown below) depicts a Muntjac Deer chewing and licking alongside the term “Mlem Mlem Mlem" used in the title.

The term was first added to Urban Dictionary^[3] by user Macrofez on December 8th, 2015, with the following definition. “Mlem: (adjective) the sound effect it makes when a tongue exits and re-enters the mouth.”

On Reddit^[4], the prevalence of the term’s usage on the site eventually led to the creation of a new subreddit specifically for mlem-related content. Launched on January 4th, 2015, the r/mlem sub now has over 156,000 members and remains an active community.

Instagram^[5] is another platform where the term saw widespread use. Here, the hashtag “#mlem” has been used on nearly 100,000 posts from countless accounts of people describing the licks of their animals. One example of this can be seen below, coming from a post by boopmynose on January 11th, 2020.

Twitter^[6] also has many uses of the mlem hashtag, one of which comes from the account Emergency Kittens that was posted on February 1st, 2020 (shown below).

*mlem pic.twitter.com/qWoeKeb4Yb

— Emergency Kittens (@EmrgencyKittens) February 1, 2020

On April 23rd, 2017, NPR^[7] published an article titled “Dogs Are Doggos: An Internet Language Built Around Love For The Puppers” that covers the extensive list of DoggoLingo terminology, including a definition for mlem.

Search Interest

External References