Our Hedo Dick-tionary Volume 1 and Volume 2 are a hit so by popular request, we’ve put together a third and themed installment of our word-smithing series, terms & words to know in BDSM.

Defining BDSM is a challenging thing do: the vocabulary is extensive and specific. However, the very language of BDSM is essentially a part of the play. This is by no means a complete list of kink terminology, but rather a brief selection of key terms.

1. Limits

 
Hard limits and soft limits are activities that a person in a BDSM scene won’t do. Hard limits cannot be negotiated.

2. D/s

 
A person who is dominant/a person who is submissive.

3. Switch

 
A switch refers to someone who alternates between the roles of dominant and submissive and/or top and bottom.

4. Breath Play

 
Breath Play is a type of BDSM play wherein the breath of one participant, often the sub, is controlled by choking or holding the breath.

5. Vanilla

 
In the kink community, vanilla is a term to designate “not BDSM” or people and practices outside the kink scene. As the term implies, it’s “plain, ordinary, normal.”

6. DDlg

 
Daddy Dom Little Girl is a form of BDSM that often includes ageplay.

7. Shibari

 
Shibari is a type of rope bondage originating in Japan that is often elaborate and intricate in its patterns.

8. Safe Word

 
An agreed upon word or phrase that a submissive can say during a scene to stop the activity or session immediately.

9. SSC

 
Safe, Sane, Consensual.

9. TPE

 
Total Power Exchange.