mlem
/mlem/ (one syllable, with ml together)noun · interjection · verb
Meaning
A mlem is the quick flick or extension of an animal’s tongue, especially during a lick of its nose, lips, food, or the air. The word can also imitate the action as a sound effect or function as a verb, as in a dog mleming a treat.
- 1. An instance of an animal extending its tongue to lick something, often its own nose or lips.
- 2. A cute photo, GIF, or video that captures an animal with its tongue out, particularly in mid-lick.
- 3. A playful sound effect or verb representing a tongue flick or licking motion.
Examples
“Perfect mlem. No notes.”
“Caught him mid-mlem again 👅”
“The gecko did one tiny mlem at the camera.”
“She mlems the spoon every time I open yogurt.”
Origin and spread
Mlem developed as an onomatopoeic piece of DoggoLingo, the playful internet vocabulary used around pet photos and videos. An early Imgur album preserves the repeated caption “mlem mlem mlem,” and a YouTube video titled “Muntjac Deer goes ‘Mlem Mlem Mlem’” confirms circulation by July 15, 2014. The available record does not establish a single coiner. During the later 2010s, the term spread with DoggoLingo across animal-focused social media communities and became both a name for a lick and a caption imitating its sound.[2]
How to use it
Mlem is affectionate and deliberately silly, so it fits pet captions, reaction posts, and casual messages better than formal writing. Many pet-meme communities reserve mlem for an active lick and blep for a tongue resting outside the mouth, although casual usage often overlaps.
Sources
- 1. YouTube — Muntjac Deer goes “Mlem Mlem Mlem”Supports: earliest documented use.
- 2. Wikipedia — DoggoLingoSupports: origin, form.
