The HTML <dt> element specifies a term in a description or definition list, and as such must be used inside a <dl> element. It is usually followed by a <dd> element; however, multiple <dt> elements in a row indicate several terms that are all defined by the immediate next <dd> element.
The subsequent <dd> (Description Details) element provides the definition or other related text associated with the term specified using <dt>.
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| Content categories | None. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Flow content, but with no <header>, <footer>, sectioning content or heading content descendants. |
| Tag omission | Must have a start tag. The end tag may be omitted if this element is immediately followed by another <dt> or a <dd> element, or if there is no more content in the parent element. |
| Permitted parents | Before a <dt> or a <dd> element, inside a <dl> or (in WHATWG HTML) a <div> that is inside a <dl>. |
| Implicit ARIA role | term |
| Permitted ARIA roles | listitem |
| DOM interface | HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element. |
Attributes
This element only includes the global attributes.
Example
For an example, see the example provided for the <dl> element.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<dt>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<dt>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<dt>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
dt | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support