| Depr. | Empty | Version |
|---|---|---|
| No | No | HTML 2 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | SA1.3+ | OP9.2+ | CH2+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
Syntax
Description
The
dt is the first part of the dt :
dd pairing that constitutes an item
in a definition list (dl). Note that
it can’t contain any block-level elements—not even p
or heading elements such as h1, h2, and so on. It can only contain text.
You can see the dt in the image below:
You can follow multiple dt
elements with a single description—for instance, in cases where you have
two terms that mean exactly the same thing:
<dl>
<dt>Sofa</dt>
<dt>Settee</dt>
<dd>a long upholstered seat with a back and arms, for two or more
people</dd>
⋮
</dl>
Example
The example below shows the definition term being used to mark up the word “spam”:
<dl>
<dt>Spam</dt>
<dd>unsolicited email sent in the hope of increasing sales of
some product, or simply for the purposes of annoying people</dd>
⋮
</dl>
Use This For …
The
dt element is used to mark up a term of some kind. You
can think of a word’s entry in a dictionary as a dt,
the dd as the explanation of that word, and the book
itself as the dl.
Compatibility
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Opera | Chrome | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 9.2 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 2.0 |
| Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
Every browser listed supports this element type.
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