Slang dictionary
doggy style
[daw-gee, dog-ee] [stahyl]
What does doggy style mean?
Doggy style is a colloquial term for vaginal or anal sex from behind, typically with one partner crouched on all fours.
Where does doggy style come from?
Male dogs, as well as many other animals, copulate with females from behind, which likely inspired the name doggy style for an analogous manner of intercourse between humans. Biologists refer to this form of copulation in mammals as lordosis behavior.
Predating doggy style is dog style, which emerged in the 1940s and notably appears in an early 1957 manuscript of William Burroughs’ controversial novel Naked Lunch: “Greek lads white as marble fuck dog style on the portico of a great golden temple.” In his 1971 book Sexuality and Homsexuality, poet and psychoanalyst Arno Karlen glosses: “Coitus a tergo—from behind, ‘doggy style.’” And in his 1977 The Film Maker’s Guide to Pornography, Steven Ziplow references doing it, simply, “doggie.”
Examples of doggy style
Who uses doggy style?
Doggy style is casually referenced in popular culture, music lyrics, sex advice articles, and pornography. Some pet stories, products, and pet-related images like to pun irreverently on doggy style, as did the rapper Snoop Dogg on his 1993 debut album, Doggystyle.
While the term is widely often used as an adverb (doing it doggy style), it can also be used as a noun (they prefer doggy style), modifier (the doggy-style position), and more pornographically, as a verb (to get doggy-styled).
Given the term’s sexual context, some may find doggy style offensive or obscene. The term is also not to be confused with downward dog, a yoga and sex position.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of doggy style 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 doggy style that will help our users expand their word mastery.