Slang dictionary
dick pic
[dik pik]
What does dick pic mean?
Dick pic is slang for an image of a penis, typically sent and received via electronic devices.
Where does dick pic come from?
Since at least the 1830s, dick has been coarse slang for “penis.” Pic, meanwhile, is a shortening of the word picture that people have been using since at least the 1880s. As early as 1993, amid the popular rise of the internet, the term dick pic was recorded in a Usenet newsgroup for a picture of a penis.
The term dick pic proliferated in the 2000s with the expansion of the internet, text messaging, social media, online dating, and mobile phones equipped with cameras. Searches for dick pic notably spiked in August, 2016 when news broke that former congressman Anthony Weiner had sexted a dick pic to an underage girl while in the presence of his young son.
Online dating sites and apps have played a major role in spreading dick pics in the 2010s, with some men sending dick pics as an attempt to engage the recipient in sexual banter, or more.
Dick pics have become so ubiquitous that women (and sometimes other men) on dating sites and social media report receiving unsolicited dick pics with regularity. Unwanted dick pics can be viewed as a form of sexual harassment. Anthony Weiner, for instance, was sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison for his dick pic sexting scandal.
Examples of dick pic
Who uses dick pic?
Dick pic is used in colloquial speech and writing in reference to specific instances of dick pics, the behavior of sending them, or the larger sociological phenomenon.
On social media, people may use the hashtag “#dickpic” to showcase a photo of their penis or to solicit a dick pic from a willing sender. If a user receives an unsolicited dick pic, they may upload it to social media as fodder for jokes in their network—or as evidence for sexual harassment.
Though the term dick pic is a vulgar form of slang that many consider to be highly offensive, it is still used by media outlets such as News.com and Men’s Health in article titles such as “How to stop unwanted dick pics” or “How to Nail a Dick Pic, According To Women.”
Dick pic, perhaps surprisingly, has made its way into popular media. For instance, Nicki Minaj raps in her 2013 remix “Boss Ass Bitch”: “…then make ’em ‘yes men’/ And get a dick pic, and then you press ‘send’.”
Dick pic is not to be confused with Dick’s Picks, an extension collection of recordings of live Grateful Dead shows.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of dick pic like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of dick pic that will help our users expand their word mastery.