Glossary

The Big List of Sexual Health Terminology


The following is a list of terminology related to sexual health and the “rebooting” process. Some of these words existed before the founding of our organization. But many of them were devised by either the NoFap® team or the community.

  • Accountability Partners: Accountability partners are pairs who hold each other responsible for their sexual habits
  • Blue Petal: Female equivalent of blue balls.
  • Chaser Effect: The super-charged desire to masturbate that sometimes hits 1-3 days after sexual acts. Especially powerful early on in a reboot
  • DE: Delayed ejaculation
  • Death Grip: The tight-fisted grip on the penis many men develop by masturbating. Because it is much more constricted than the grip of an actual vagina, the death grip overstimulates the penis, reduces pleasure in the long run, and can make it difficult or impossible to orgasm with a woman.
  • Death Schlick: Women have their own version of the death grip, the Death Schlick — stimulating the clitoris very rapidly and energetically — which can have the same effects.
  • DE: Delayed ejaculation – can include inability to orgasm during intercourse (if severe enough)
  • ED: Erectile dysfunction – inability to maintain an erection during intercourse
  • Edging: Traditionally, this described masturbating to the brink of orgasm and stopping right before “going over the edge.” This could be repeated over and over, usually in conjunction with pornography. Some rebooters have tried this in a misguided attempt to rationalize pornography usage (“well, it doesn’t count if I didn’t orgasm!”). Now it is used more generally to describe masturbation without orgasm. If you are adhering to NoFap’s Normal or Hard Mode rebooting programs, edging is usually considered a reset.
  • Fap: An onomatopoeia (a word that is formulated based on how it sounds) that represents the sound of vigorous masturbation (another example of an onomatopoeia phrase is sizzle). Originally appeared in comic strips. NoFap’s name is derived from this sound.
  • Fapping: Now-popularized Internet slang for masturbation. (hey, quit fapping over there!)
  • Fapstronaut: A NoFap® user
  • Femstronaut: A female NoFap® user
  • Flatlining: Many NoFap® users report one or more periods of zero libido during their streak, especially in the 2-6 week period. Transitioning from an overexcited, always-eager libido to none at all can be disconcerting and even scary for the experienced masturbator, but many Fapstronauts report that it is only a phase in the reboot and will pass.
  • Hard Mode: Rebooting without any sexual release (even via a partner)
  • NoFap: A comprehensive porn addiction recovery and sexual health platform. NoFap® offers a suite of products and services designed to help its users reach their sexual health goals. For more information, see the About page.
  • NSFL: Not safe for life. This is reserved for disgusting stuff.
  • NSFW: Not safe for work. This label is affixed to potentially-triggering content and should be viewed with caution (may cause some Fapstronauts distress)
  • PE: Premature ejaculation
  • PIED: Porn-induced erectile dysfunction. Through years of using porn, male users might discover that they are unable to achieve or maintain an erection without the use of porn or porn fantasy. This is very detrimental to real-world sexual encounters and could strain relationships. The cure to PIED is rebooting.
  • PIV: Penis in vagina (sexual intercourse)
  • PMO: Porn/Masturbation/Orgasm. They come together like a Happy Meal and the toy.
  • PSUB: Also known as P-SUBs, or porn substitutes, are considered undesirable replacements to using pornography. Examples might include excessive use of dating websites, looking at clothed images of models, or even cruising social media websites for pictures. The intention is what matters the most. Using these things are great in many contexts, but many of our users prefer to avoid the “pornification” of seemingly non-pornographic material.
  • PVO: Porn / Vibrator / Orgasm
  • Reboot: Also called “rebooting.” The process of restoring your brain to “factory defaults.” Verb meaning abstinence from sexual behaviors, namely the use of porn, but often also masturbation and sex. Said to take 90 days or longer, by anecdotal reports.
  • Relapse: For addicts, the act of returning to bad habits after a period of improvement. This is a serious word. Examples would include masturbating to porn (for a porn addict), significantly disrupting your life due to excessive masturbation (going on a 20x binge and skipping work), risky masturbation (masturbating in public), and other similarly life-disrupting activities due to an addiction.
  • Reset: Failing one of our programs/challenge. This stemmed from the act of resetting your day counter badge back to day one. If your masturbate during your rebooting program, this could be called a reset.
  • Retention: Practicing retention involves going for longer periods of time without sexual release, beyond the goal of addiction recovery. The general idea is to apply the time and energy from sexuality into other areas of life. Retention is a gender-neutral word stemming from semen retention which has existed for many years and has been popularized by various celebrities who practiced it.
  • Schlicking: Internet slang for female masturbation.
  • SO: Significant other. Could refer to a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or wife.
  • The Surge: The period 5-14 days after the start of a streak that often features a physically recognizable surge in energy and sexual drive, which seems to potentially be associated with the rebooting-induced testosterone “surge.” This doesn’t occur in all reboots.
  • YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. Good words to remember, because no two reboots are exactly alike.

Can I link to this glossary?

Feel free to link to our glossary on your forum post, website, blog, or from anywhere. If you quote a short segment of our writing on another website not owned by NoFap®, please be sure to provide attribution via a link back to this page.

59 thoughts on “Glossary”

  1. i’m totally impressed w/ this website. very grateful i found it. so, what does ‘fap’ actually mean? is it an acronym? is it a different way of saying no masturbation?

    i like how this site emphasizes the ‘brain’ and the neuro ?? pathways – it rings true. there’s a spiritual component in all this but the practical, scientific, human (i think it’s *all* related, but who am i?) piece ‘has’ to fit with the spiritual. and then there’s the over moralizing that happens. ANYWAY, i read through one of the posts -and am looking forward to being part of this community. thanks for starting it.
    -michael fields

  2. relapse means they fapped again, after trying to stop. it can be very a disappointing and depressing time, especially if they’ve gone a long time without it.

  3. Binge means that when you give in and fap you REALLY give in and fap. Not just a one time relapse but a “Well I messed up, I might as well enjoy myself 5 to 10 times a day.”

  4. Pingback: NoFap, plongée dans les entrailles de la culpabilité — Le Tag Parfait

  5. Binging refers to excessive fapping – a lot. Often occurs if you don’t fap for a while and all you want to do is fap – a lot.

  6. trigger – a reason or a catalyst. A bullet is shot by a gun using a trigger. Hence in no fap terms, a trigger refers to an explicit image which may cause horny thoughts leading to fapping

  7. The term femstronaut does not seem apt to me because it has neither fap nor schlick in it. IMO, fapstronaut can be used for male as well as female users, or something like schlickstronaut might describe female users better. Just my uncalled-for two cents. 🙂

  8. “fapstinence”
    I lol’ed, in a positive way. I’m starting my journey today, hard mode sadly. 😉

    Let’s get control, eh? 🙂

  9. During ‘The Surge’, do you feel like masturbating due to the surge in sexual drive or does it just mean sexual intercourse?

  10. It’s a term used in addiction recovery. If the addict is sober for a while and uses again, we call it a relapse. In NoFap, this would me the fapstronaut fapped again after a period of abstinence.

  11. Day 1: Trying this out to change my behaviors. I hate how porn has warped my view of women and intimacy.

  12. Well, at least the terminology isn’t overly difficult to remember, which is great. I’m horrible at memorizing and remembering things.

  13. Pingback: Days 17-21 | nofapboy

  14. Is whacking off to porn once a day or once every other day, when your single a bad thing? Is it why I’m single? Alternatively, I have not had sex in a year or more, so realistically all I can really hope for is to enjoy an orgasm I create, right? If I have no dating prospects and no sex prospects, then I have to release don’t I? If I were in a relationship, I could enjoy the pussy, or mouth and intimacy, if she is willing. So its all about making the transition at the right time in my estimation. So is there any reason why I should stop now? (When I am single). I love sucking a girls tities and playing with her vagina. I’ve put it in a girl’s vagina and fucked for a while but pulled out to cum. I hear cumming inside the pussy is the best thing ever though. I would like to try anal, but I have to master the pussy first. Just play and maybe even rim or fuck a girls ass that’d be great (keep dreaming right). I actually get far more profound orgasms putting large objects up my ass, it doesn’t hurt if you are smart about it. If I was in a relationship, would there EVER BE a right time to admit to this anal thing (both wanting to play or more with her ass and allowing her to reciprocate if she wanted by pleasuring my ass). And don’t tell me it makes me gay, I’m getting sick of those ignorant stereotypes. I mean I wouldn’t want the girlfriend of the future to ever feel pressured into the weird stuff I enjoy, so is there a right way to test the waters and ask–it would not be a deal breaker for me if she wanted to stick to the vaginal and oral sex? Last question, do you think I will stop using porn (every other day) while sticking a large dildo up my ass, when I encounter real sexual excitement and intimacy with another person?

  15. Do intimacy and pornography and sex toys have to be mutually exclusive, or can they be used in a monogomous relationship, or a dating or even casual relationship? So long as they don’t override the enjoyment of the other person and so long as you are both as a couple mutually enjoying these things should both partners choose to do it? Last question, is porn really an addiction if you average an hour of viewing per week, 2 hours tops?

  16. This should shed some light for you about the effects of porn:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSF82AwSDiU

    Border-lining troll for going into such detail on this particular region of the internet. Most of those questions are unrelated to NoFap, and a lot of the detail is irrelevant to the point of the questions. Yes, you can control your porn and masturbation habits. Toys/personal desires in the bedroom are irrelevant. Those questions should be left for sex-advice communities imo.

  17. This is ridiculous. Why on earth would you write such a post on NoFap.org? Could someone please remove this post?

  18. Just found this site through Google. I absolutely cannot have a boyfriend. Don’t want a relationship of any kind. So…I have to PMO. Love it and it’s ruining my life, i.e. not reading, exercising, going out, because I want to watch porn for hours and then play with my self and buy more sex toys. I even M in the car in parking lots and it doesn’t bother me at all to do it. Can’t get enough P or M. Looks like I need help, but I don’t want to stop. Masturbation is beautiful even when you can regulate doing it, and there’s no physical harm, no shame. It’s preferable to being a slut.

  19. You can have relationships without being a slut. Yeah I know females have bad stigma if they date multiple guys but that usually ends in high school and beyond that it’s just a label that doesn’t define you. I was called a nerd in high school and every name in the book but I know what I am and I won’t let one asshole/ bitch label me. If you are happy with PMO that’s one thing but when you say it ruins your life and you don’t want to stop, that sounds like a bad habit to me. I don’t want to stop either but unlike you I do want a relationship. A man can only be an island for so long. You just have to believe there is a world without pornography…

  20. Glad to see I’m not the only one who struggles with FFFF Syndrome (frequent fits of ferocious fabbing)

  21. I tried this and I just got really tired/depressed after a couple of weeks. Also leaked precum non-stop. I am not so sure this is good for me…

  22. Can you please include PIED (porn-induced erectile dysfunction)? I’ve seen that on NoFap ReddIt quite a bit too.

  23. What about when somebody is a “Fapist” ? Sounds like it should be part of the terminology. I don’t exactly know what that would imply but…yeah

  24. Anne, no worries. You love P and M. It’s pretty normal. But you do also probably need to talk to someone, just so you know you have support to go through this. Support (i.e. counseling) doesn’t mean you need to stop, or you need to change anything. It just gives you someone to talk to whilst you’re going through it, so you don’t have to go through it alone.

  25. Anne… please consider seeking a lady of sound experience to talk to. Personally, in my experiences in this area its wise for men to hold other men accountable and ladies hold ladies accountable. All for the fact that women live with issues that men cannot relate to and vice versa. I know what you speak of, for I myself have lived with something similar for 15 + years.

  26. Antonio Brasyl

    You don’t need to quit watching porn. Watch it with someone else, your boyfriend or girlfriend, or even one night stand. While watching, enjoy like mature adults and even play like the people on the video. It can be fun, specially if you talk about your desires with your partner. With time, you will not associate porn with fapping, but instead with a special sexual moment with someone you love or just desire to be with.

    The problem with porn is when you watch and deal with it alone. But with someone special in your life it can be very helpful. Porn videos in VHS were sold in the 80´s for couples, to spice their relations, and people didn’t had to struggle with this kind of problem…

  27. I think this glossary should include a word to describe a certain phobia of deteriorating testicular/seminal health via prolonged abstinence from ejaculation. I’ve never made it to two months without ejaculating, and that’s my primary excuse. My secondary excuse is insomnia.

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