<dt>: The Description Term element

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

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The <dt> HTML 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>.

Try it

<p>Please use the following paint colors for the new house:</p>

<dl>
  <dt>Denim (semigloss finish)</dt>
  <dd>Ceiling</dd>

  <dt>Denim (eggshell finish)</dt>
  <dt>Evening Sky (eggshell finish)</dt>
  <dd>Layered on the walls</dd>
</dl>

p,
dl {
  font:
    1rem "Fira Sans",
    sans-serif;
}

dl > dt {
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: oblique;
}

dd {
  margin-bottom: 1rem;
}

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Examples

For examples, see the examples provided for the <dl> element.

Technical summary

Content categories None.
Permitted content Flow content, but with no <header>, <footer>, sectioning content or heading content descendants.
Tag omission The start tag is required. The end tag may be omitted if this element is immediately followed by another <dt> element or a <dd> element, or if there is no more content in the parent element.
Permitted parents A <dl> or (in WHATWG HTML, W3C HTML 5.2 and later) a <div> that is a child of a <dl>.
This element can be used before a <dd> or another <dt> element.
Implicit ARIA role No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles listitem
DOM interface HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element.

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# the-dt-element

Browser compatibility

See also