datingglossary

Statistics we cite

Every number published on datingglossary, verified against a primary source. Each entry has a permalink — cite a single statistic by linking its anchor. Last verification: 2026.

1970s — Enmeshment/disengagement entered relationship vocabulary through Salvador Minuchin's structural family therapy, whose foundational book reached a wide professional audience in the 1970s#
Source: Salvador Minuchin, "Families and Family Therapy", Harvard University Press (1974) · verified 2026
early modern period — English infatuate/infatuation comes from Latin infatuare (from fatuus, 'foolish'), literally 'to make a fool of', and entered English in the early modern period#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entries "infatuate" / "infatuation", citing Late Latin infatuationem and Century Dictionary (2026) · verified 2026
1979 — The term "limerence" was coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov and published in her book Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love (1979)#
Source: Dorothy Tennov, "Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love", New York: Stein and Day, 1979 (LCCN 77020117; LC class BF575.L8 T46) (1979) · verified 2026
start of the 2010s — The dating sense of catfishing entered English through the documentary "Catfish", released at the start of the 2010s#
Source: International Documentary Association (IDA), contemporaneous Sundance festival report on the world premiere of "Catfish" (dir. Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman), Spotlight section (2010) · verified 2026
folklore, not a verified practice — The cod-and-catfish shipping anecdote told at the end of the film is folklore rather than a documented practice; the story traces to early 20th-century fiction writers, not to the fishing trade#
Source: Yahoo Entertainment ten-year retrospective on "Catfish", reporting the Boston Globe's tracing of the anecdote to fiction writers Henry Nevinson and Charles Marriott (2020) · verified 2026
mid-2000s — The term "demisexual" was coined in the mid-2000s on the forums of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), by a forum user posting in the members-questioning section#
Source: Ace Week, "5 Defining Moments in Gray-Asexual History"; corroborated by the Dictionary.com Gender & Sexuality entry "demisexual" (2006) · verified 2026
late twentieth century (personal advertisements) — The dating sense of "bicurious" / "bi-curious" is recorded as arising in the language of personal advertisements in the late twentieth century, built from bi(sexual) + curious#
Source: Dictionary.com, entry "bi-curious" ("First recorded in 1980–85; bi(sexual) + curious") (2026) · verified 2026
late 2010s — "Micro-cheating" entered general circulation through the relationship-advice press of the late 2010s, first in Australian coverage quoting dating expert Melanie (Mel) Schilling, then reprinted in American and British outlets#
Source: HuffPost Australia, "Micro-Cheating: What Is It And Does It Count?", by Emily Blatchford, quoting Melanie Schilling (2017) · verified 2026
late 2010s — The dating sense of "stashing" is credited to journalist Ellen Scott writing in the UK paper Metro, from where the lifestyle press picked it up in the late 2010s#
Source: Dictionary.com slang entry "stashing"; corroborated by Refinery29 (13 Jan 2020), which credits "Metro UK writer Ellen Scott ... back in 2017" (2017) · verified 2026
18th century — The ordinary English verb "stash" (to conceal, hide) predates the dating sense by about two centuries, appearing in 18th-century criminal slang#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "stash" (2026) · verified 2026
2017 (second half of the 2010s) — "Cushioning" is documented in mainstream press coverage of app-era dating slang by 2017; who coined it in the dating sense is not established#
Source: Mark Peters, "How Tinder and OKCupid spawned a new genre of slang", The Boston Globe (Ideas) (2017) · verified 2026
late-medieval origin; restricted-access senses centuries older than the dating sense — English "exclusive" comes from Medieval Latin exclusivus, from the past participle of Latin excludere "to shut out" (ex- "out" + claudere "to close, shut"); its restrictive, commercial and social-access senses are centuries older than the dating use#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entries "exclusive" and "exclude" (2026) · verified 2026
early modern period (verb and wooing sense); the noun "court" from the late 12th century — The romantic verb "court" comes from the noun court (Old French cort, Latin cortem/cohors "enclosed yard", later the formal assembly and residence of a sovereign) and means "to endeavour to gain the favour of by amorous attention"; the noun "courtship" begins as "behaviour of a courtier", acquires the wooing sense in the same early modern period, and later widens to the period during which a couple develops a relationship with a view to marriage#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entries "courtship" and "court" (n., v.) (2026) · verified 2026
turn of the twentieth century — "Dating" in the romantic sense is the newer word: the noun sense "liaison at a particular time, by prearrangement" and the verb "have a romantic liaison" enter English around the turn of the twentieth century#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entries "date" (n.3) and "date" (v.2) (2026) · verified 2026
1990s — A Christian courtship movement promoted courting — purposeful, family-involved and marriage-directed — as a deliberate alternative to dating through American evangelical publishing in the 1990s, its best-known vehicle being Joshua Harris's "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" (Multnomah)#
Source: Open Library bibliographic record for Joshua Harris, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", Multnomah (first published 1997); movement framing corroborated in mainstream coverage (NPR, Slate) (1997) · verified 2026
colour code in place in English slang by the early twentieth century — "Lavender" was already established English slang for homosexual / homosexuality before the compound "lavender marriage" is attested, surviving in phrases such as a "dash" or "streak" of lavender#
Source: Green's Dictionary of Slang, entry "lavender, adj."; corroborated by Wordorigins.org (David Wilton), big-list entry "lavender" (2026) · verified 2026
the studio era of the early twentieth century — Hollywood studios began writing morals clauses into talent contracts in the early 1920s, after the Arbuckle scandal, expressly to protect the studio's reputation from the private conduct of contracted performers#
Source: Noah B. Epstein, "Morals Clauses: Past, Present and Future", NYU Journal of Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law, vol. 5 no. 1 (2016) · verified 2026
not established — The first use of the two-word compound "lavender marriage" is not established: the standard slang and etymology references carry the colour term but no dated citation for the compound, and the era usually attached to it is the era it describes rather than a documented coinage date#
Source: Wordorigins.org (David Wilton), big-list entry "lavender"; Green's Dictionary of Slang ("lavender" adj./n. entries); Wiktionary, entry "lavender marriage" (2026) · verified 2026
Renaissance notion, built on the Symposium — English "platonic" is formed from the name of the philosopher Plato (Latin Platonicus, Greek Platōnikos); the sense "free of sensual desire" is a Renaissance notion built on readings of Plato's Symposium, not on Plato's own vocabulary#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "platonic" (2026) · verified 2026
seventeenth century — The phrase "Platonic love" entered English in the seventeenth century, translating Latin amor platonicus, at a time when Neoplatonism was fashionable at court#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "platonic"; corroborated by Wikipedia, "Platonic love" (2026) · verified 2026
Ficino / Renaissance commentary tradition (attribution, era-level) — The Latin phrase amor platonicus belongs to the Renaissance commentary tradition around Marsilio Ficino's reading of Plato's Symposium, not to Plato#
Source: Wikipedia, "Platonic love"; corroborated by the Online Etymology Dictionary entry "platonic" ("a Renaissance notion ... based on Plato's writings in 'Symposium'") (2026) · verified 2026
seventeenth-century court fashion, satirised on stage — Platonic love was briefly a court fashion in seventeenth-century England and was satirised on stage in William Davenant's play The Platonick Lovers#
Source: Wikipedia, "The Platonick Lovers" (Caroline-era play by Sir William Davenant, acted by the King's Men at Blackfriars); corroborated by Wikipedia, "Platonic love" (Neoplatonism fashionable among royalty) (2026) · verified 2026
start of the 2010s (by 2011) — "Thirst trap" appears in social-media use — on Twitter and in Urban Dictionary — by the start of the 2010s, built from thirsty (slang for thirsting for attention) plus trap in the sense of 'lure'; no individual coiner is on record#
Source: Dictionary.com slang entry "thirst trap" (2026) · verified 2026
late 2010s — "Thirst trap" is attested in mainstream English-language press by the late 2010s, in outlets including The New York Times and The Atlantic, and was the subject of national broadcast coverage in the same period#
Source: Wiktionary entry "thirst trap" (dated quotation set); NPR, "'Thirst Trap' Enters The Lexicon" (2018) · verified 2026
early 2020s — "Thirst trap" was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in the early 2020s, in a batch of roughly 690 new words and definitions#
Source: Merriam-Webster, "We've updated the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary with 690 New Words" (September 2023 update), reported by Yahoo News and Business Standard (2023) · verified 2026
early 2000s — The earliest documented use of "aromantic" is from the early 2000s, in the English-language online asexual community: on the Yahoo group "Haven for the Human Amoeba", the mailing list that preceded the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), with the word attested on the AVEN forums soon afterwards and in wider community use by the end of that decade#
Source: AUREA (Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education and Advocacy), "Aromantic History"; corroborated by Ace Archive, artefact "Coining of the term 'aromantic'" (identities/aromantic collection) (2002) · verified 2026
nineteenth century — The word "asexual" entered English in the nineteenth century as a biological term (having no sex or sexual system), with a sense applied to persons attested later in the same century#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "asexual" (2026) · verified 2026
early 2000s — The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) — the community usually named as the venue where the modern identity sense of "asexual" was consolidated — was founded in the early 2000s by David Jay#
Source: Wikipedia, "Asexual Visibility and Education Network"; corroborated by AVEN's own site (copyright line "2001–2026") and by Stonewall UK's AVEN profile (2001) · verified 2026
mid-2020s — The dating sense of "banksying" is attested in mainstream dating-trend coverage by the mid-2020s; there is no dictionary record of the word and no verified first use#
Source: Vice, "Introducing 'Banksying' — the Latest Toxic Dating Trend"; corroborated by Out.com and The Tab, both carrying the same sense in the same weeks (2025) · verified 2026
partial self-shredding at the moment of sale — Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" partly shredded itself seconds after the hammer fell at a Sotheby's evening auction, by way of a shredder concealed in the frame; the resulting work was authenticated under a new title, "Love is in the Bin"#
Source: Sotheby's, "Latest Banksy Artwork 'Love is in the Bin' Created Live at Auction" (2018) · verified 2026
the 1960s / mid-twentieth-century war reporting — The literal sense of "body count" — a tally of the dead — entered general English through American military reporting and press coverage of the Vietnam War era, and is the older of the phrase's senses#
Source: Dictionary.com, entry "body count"; corroborated by Wiktionary, entry "body count" (citing Merriam-Webster for a 1962 first use) (2026) · verified 2026
not established — Who first used "body count" in the sexual sense, and when, is not established in the lexicographic record; the dictionaries that carry the sense supply no coinage and no venue#
Source: Wiktionary, entry "body count" (sexual sense, earliest quotation 2010); Green's Dictionary of Slang search results for "body count" (2026) · verified 2026
the 2010s (K-pop fan community); general spread in the early 2020s — "Delulu" is a clipped, reduplicated form of "delusional" that emerged in the English-language K-pop fan community during the 2010s, used there for fans whose talk about an idol outran reality, and spread to general online and dating use in the early 2020s; no individual coiner is named in the lexicographic record#
Source: Dictionary.com slang entry "delulu"; corroborated by the Merriam-Webster slang entry "delulu" (2014) · verified 2026
added to the Cambridge Dictionary, announced August 2025 — "Delulu" has been recorded in a mainstream dictionary: Cambridge University Press & Assessment announced its addition to the Cambridge Dictionary, alongside skibidi and tradwife, in August 2025#
Source: Cambridge University Press & Assessment, news release "Cambridge Dictionary adds skibidi, delulu and tradwife" (2025) · verified 2026
define the relationship — In dating use DTR is an initialism of "define the relationship", recorded in the lexicographic slang record as chat and texting shorthand for the conversation in which one person wants a clear answer about status#
Source: Dictionary.com, Acronyms entry "DTR" (2026) · verified 2026
Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR) / Nutrition and Dietetics Technician, Registered (NDTR) — Outside dating, DTR is a nutrition credential awarded by the Commission on Dietetic Registration: "Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR)", also carried in the newer form "Nutrition and Dietetics Technician, Registered (NDTR)" — one registration under two designations#
Source: Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), credential page "Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR) or Nutrition and Dietetics Technician, Registered (NDTR)" (2026) · verified 2026
deep tendon reflex(es) — In clinical notes DTR abbreviates "deep tendon reflex(es)", the response elicited by tapping a tendon during a neurological examination — more accurately termed the muscle stretch reflex#
Source: StatPearls (NCBI Bookshelf), "Deep Tendon Reflexes", NBK531502 (2026) · verified 2026
1930s American English — The adjective "icky" ("sticky and repulsive", "distasteful") is 1930s American English, originally jazz-scene slang for over-sentimental music, probably from icky-boo "sickly, nauseated"; the clipped interjection "ick" belongs to the same family and long predates any dating use#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "icky" (2026) · verified 2026
late 1990s — The dating sense of the fixed phrase "the ick" is credited in the lexicographic record to a late-1990s episode of the American television series Ally McBeal#
Source: Dictionary.com slang entry "the ick" (2026) · verified 2026
later 2010s into the early 2020s — "The ick" was little used as dating slang until the later 2010s, when British reality television (Love Island) is credited with helping to popularise it, after which it spread widely on social media in the early 2020s#
Source: Dictionary.com slang entry "the ick" (2026) · verified 2026
Zhahai Stewart (attributed coiner) — The coinage of "new relationship energy" (NRE) is attributed to Zhahai Stewart, in Usenet-era polyamory discussion; he later published a retrospective on the term in Loving More magazine#
Source: Loving More (nonprofit publisher of Loving More Magazine), issue 26: Zhahai Stewart, "What's all this NRE Stuff, Anyway? — Reflections on New Relationship Energy, fifteen years after coining the term" (2001) · verified 2026
early twentieth century — In its older sense, "pansexualism" was a term of reproach in early twentieth-century psychology — the view, attributed to Freud by his critics, that the sex instinct plays the primary part in all human activity; that sense is unrelated to the modern identity label#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "pansexual" (covering pansexualism) (2026) · verified 2026
by the 1970s — The orientation sense of "pansexual" — a person not limited in sexual choice with regard to gender — is recorded in English by the 1970s, decades before the word's mainstream visibility#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "pansexual" (1972) · verified 2026
the 2010s — Pansexual became broadly visible in mainstream English in the 2010s, when public figures used the word about themselves; Merriam-Webster listed it among its 2018 words of the year after a lookup spike that followed Janelle Monáe's Rolling Stone interview#
Source: Merriam-Webster, "Word of the Year 2018" (pansexual among the listed words) (2018) · verified 2026
start of the 2010s — The pansexual pride flag — three horizontal stripes, magenta/pink, yellow and cyan/blue — was posted to a Tumblr account at the start of the 2010s and is usually attributed to its poster, Jasper V.; the attribution is recorded but not settled#
Source: Wikipedia, "Pansexual flag" (citing Mashable 2014, USA Today 2021, KTVU 2021, Gay Times 2021); corroborated by INTO, "The History of the Pansexual Pride Flag" (2010) · verified 2026
attraction to more than one gender — Bi organisations define bisexual as attraction to more than one gender — the Bisexual Resource Center's umbrella phrasing is "sexual and emotional attraction to more than one gender", and Robyn Ochs' widely used definition is "the potential to be attracted — romantically and/or sexually — to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree"#
Source: Bisexual Resource Center, "Bi Info"; The Trevor Project, "Understanding Bisexuality" (quoting Robyn Ochs) (2026) · verified 2026
mid-1950s — "Para-social interaction" was introduced by sociologists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl in the journal Psychiatry in the mid-1950s, in an article describing how radio and television audiences responded to performers as though to personal acquaintances#
Source: Donald Horton & R. Richard Wohl, "Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance", Psychiatry, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 215–229 (1956), DOI 10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049 (1956) · verified 2026
Latin sapere / sapiens, 'wise, knowing' — Sapiosexual is built on the Latin root sapere / sapiens — of persons, 'to have discernment, be wise'; sapiens 'sensible, shrewd, knowing' — plus the -sexual ending#
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary (Etymonline), entry "sapient" (2026) · verified 2026
turn of the 2000s, LiveJournal — Sapiosexual traces to an online journalling community: LiveJournal user wolfieboy described the word in a dated public entry at the turn of the 2000s and stated there that he had coined it himself a few years earlier#
Source: wolfieboy, LiveJournal entry "Stoked on sapiosexuality" (primary artefact, publicly dated) (2002) · verified 2026
mid-2010s — Sapiosexual moved into mainstream dating vocabulary when OkCupid included it among an expanded list of self-selected sexual-orientation options in the mid-2010s#
Source: TIME, Nolan Feeney, "OkCupid Rolling Out New Gender and Sexual Orientation Identity Options"; corroborated by NPR, "Sapiosexual Seeks Same: A New Lexicon Enters Online Dating Mainstream" (Dec 2014) and by PBS NewsHour / HuffPost coverage of the same rollout (2014) · verified 2026

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