Blep & Mlem
What it means
Both describe the cutest tongue moments. A blep is static (tongue left out by accident); a mlem is in motion.
Where it came from
Dictionary.com: "blep" (just the tip of the tongue left out) and "mlem" (the tongue darting out to lick the nose) are DoggoLingo sound words. A subreddit called /r/blep for cats blepping started in 2014, and Imgur and Urban Dictionary were discussing blep and mlem by 2015.
How popular is it?
- YouTube search for
cat blep: about 70.0K results, 771 uploaded this month (YouTube's own rough estimate, may include unrelated videos; search, read 2026-10-31 15:58 MSK)
Public counts only, copied as shown on the day we read them. Google Trends and Reddit search were not reachable from our server, so they are not included.
Timeline
- 2014/r/blep subreddit for tongue-out cat photos
- 2015Blep and mlem discussed on Imgur and Urban Dictionary
How people use it
Caption a tongue-out photo "blep" or a licking GIF "mlem".
Caption ideas
FAQ
Blep or mlem — which is which?
Blep = tongue resting out; mlem = tongue licking.
Sources
Last checked 2026-10-31. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
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