Slang dictionary
69
or sixty-nine [siks-tee nahyn]
What does 69 mean?
69 is slang for when two partners arrange their bodies to perform oral sex on one another at the same time in a way said to look like the number 69.
Where does 69 come from?
The slang 69 goes all the way back to the French Revolution. The term is found in a 1790 French work, The Whore’s Catechisms, attributed the revolutionary figure Théroigne de Méricour, who described a soixante-neuf, or “sixty-nine” in French.
English picked up sixty-nine by the 1880s, with its numerical shorthand, 69, familiar by the 1970s.
As long as there have been humans, though, there probably has been the practice of a 69. It’s described in the ancient Indian Kama Sutra, for instance, as the Congress of a Crow position. The position involves different- or same-sex partners perform oral sex on each other at the same time, usually achieved by lying on their sides or one on top. Variants involving the standing position include Standing 69 or Eiffel 69.
69 is commonly referenced and joked about in popular culture. R&B singer Rick James released “She Blew My Mind (69 Times)” in 1982, for instance, and Bryan Adams’ 1984 “Summer of ’69,” which puns on the peace-n-lovin’ year 1969. Rapper Daniel Hernandez is better known by his suggestive stage name, 6ix9ine.
In in the 2000s, 69 inspired memes where internet users commented “nice” on just about any online content that happened to feature the number 69 (e.g., the poll shows that 69% of Americans approve of the new law).
Memebase – Cheezburger
Examples of 69
Who uses 69?
69 is an adult, NSFW term. Outside of literal uses (including as a verb, to sixty-nine someone), 69 is used throughout the sex industry, from pornographic Twitter handles to sex to phone-sex telephone numbers, as a shorthand for anything “sex.”
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of 69 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 69 that will help our users expand their word mastery.