Knowing about sugar baby terms is a valuable skill you’ll need when looking for your perfect sugar match! Consider this glossary of sugar daddy terms your go-to when chatting with other people in the Bowl!

Basic Sugar Baby Terms

These are the fundamental phrases you’ll need to know to get started in the sugaring lifestyle:

The Bowl

The Bowl, or the Sugar Bowl, is the sugaring community.

Provider

The Provider in a sugar relationship is the person with more material wealth and/or social influence and connection. They will provide for their sugar baby’s every need. In other words, this is a gender-neutral term for sugar daddy.

Mutually reciprocal agreement/arrangement

A mutually reciprocal arrangement can be a more neutral phrase for a sugar relationship. It acknowledges that both members of a sugar partnership are active participants receiving something positive out of their arrangement.

POT

This refers to a potential partner. In other words, when you start chatting with new people on the sugar daddy website, you’re talking to POTs. Someone will remain a POT in your sugaring practice until you’ve solidified the terms of an agreement.

SB/SD

SB stands for sugar baby and SD stands for sugar daddy. SB/SD is the most basic way to reference a sugar relationship.

SR

Sugar relationship.

Sugar

Sugar is a broad term to refer to the agreed-upon benefits that a sugar baby will receive in a relationship. They may include extravagant vacations, clothing gifts, designer bags, invitations to networking events, dinners at exclusive new restaurants, gym memberships, or a wide range of other gifts.

Sugar Momma

A Sugar Momma, a.k.a. Sugar Mama or Cougar, is a woman in the position of provider.

Sugar Cub

This term refers to men in the role of sugar baby (although sugar baby itself can be a gender-neutral term.)

Types of sugar relationships

Age Gap Relationship

This is one of those sugar baby terms that exists both in the Bowl and in the larger dating ecosystem, especially as age-gap relationships become more popular. And while the assumption used to be that every couple with a difference in age was probably SB/SD, that mindset is changing. In other words, not all Age Gaps are sugar relationships, and not all sugar relationships feature an age gap.

Arm Candy

Arm candy is a popular term for sugar babies whose role is to accompany their partner to important social events. As such, they need to be able to present themselves accordingly, by dressing the part and being able to mingle with their sugar daddy’s colleagues, family, or the media.

FWB or sugar friendship

Friends-with-benefits is a common form of MBA. This type of relationship allows for the partners to create a friendly bond in which they feel comfortable and relaxed around each other. An FWB or sugar friendship may be more or less frequent than an arrangement with scheduled dates, as the relationship allows for casual flexibility.

GSR

This refers to a same-sex sugar relationship, or gay sugar relationship.

LDR or Online Sugar Relationship

Long-distance relationships are becoming increasingly common as technology allows us to connect from all over the world. Many sugar relationships exist successfully online, through the use of texting, photos, and video calls.

Mentorship

Mentorship can be an important form of sugar dating. It allows older and more experienced sugar daddies to coach their partners through their career goals or life milestones.

Monogamish

You’ve heard of monogamy, which means that a couple dates only each other. Monogamish refers to a relationship that is mostly monogamous, except for the occasional branching out to see other people. You may, for instance, have a sugar daddy who only has dates with you week-to-week. But, when they travel for work, they may arrange a date while out of town.

NSA

NSA stands for no-strings-attached, and is a way of strictly separating someone’s personal life from their sugaring lifestyle. In this arrangement, partners do not share any personal information and often agree to keep emotions out of their interactions, as well. NSA arrangements can be short-term or long-term but they are typically agreed upon on a date-by-date basis.

Platonic

Sugar relationships that don’t contain an element of physical intimacy are called platonic. Platonic relationships instead may offer a sugar daddy emotional intimacy, the chance to mentor their sugar baby, or a travel companion.

Standard SB/SD

This is perhaps the most traditional and structured form of sugar dating. In this type of SR, there is a clear sugar baby and sugar daddy. They typically meet on specified dates and live their personal lives separately from each other. Standard SB/SD relationships can sometimes evolve into something more intimate if both parties feel an emotional attachment. But in general, they stick to the terms of the arrangement.

STA/LTA

Short-term arrangement, and long-term arrangement, respectively. All sugar relationships can fall into one of these two categories. And STAs can sometimes turn into LTAs if both parties are happy to continue seeing each other.

Vanilla

Vanilla isn’t actually a kind of sugar daddy relationship at all. Instead, it’s what people in the Bowl use to refer to traditional, romantic relationships.

Other useful terms

Angel Baby

These are the members of the sugaring community who are experienced in their sugar baby role. They’ve been doing it for long enough to know how to be successful and keep their partner happy.

College Baby

College babies are typically young members of the Bowl who are less experienced in sugaring. The term refers to sugar babies who put themselves through college with the help of their sugar relationship. But, it can be a general term for young sugar babies.

Fake Daddy/Baby

Scammers in the Bowl are simply referred to as scammers, Fake Daddies, or Fake Babies. They may be bots or professionals involved in scamming operations. A scammer will use odd language and make grandiose offers that don’t align with real sugar arrangements.

Freestyle or freelance

Freestyling (or less commonly known as freelancing) is a way of meeting POTs in the real world instead of online. You may freestyle by frequenting places you might meet a sugar daddy, such as at a country club or exclusive fundraising gala.

Meet & Greet

The first date that you have with a POT is called a meet & greet. The idea is to get to know each other, start building rapport, and introduce your ideas on benefits. The arrangement doesn’t necessarily have to be completely agreed upon by the end of the first meet & greet, but some of the details should at least be discussed.

Unlike a job interview, sugar babies are compensated for their time at meet & greets, usually by being treated to an excellent meal.

Peacocking

Peacocking is a term to describe someone who flaunts their wealth or assets as a way to appeal to more POTs. Peacocking doesn’t necessarily mean that a potential partner won’t live up to the expectation. But it’s usually a good idea to be wary of people online who seem too good to be true.

Salt Daddy

A salt daddy is someone to be avoided in the sugaring community. This is a person, either wealthy or lying about their wealth, who claims to want to engage in a relationship. But they are so stingy with their resources that they don’t end up offering sufficient benefits for their partner.

Sometimes salt daddies will trick their partners into delaying receiving their benefits. When the sugar baby has finally grown tired of waiting, the salt daddy will disappear.

Splenda Daddy

Like Salt Daddies, Splenda Daddies aren’t ideal partners. They are likely to be a real person with the desire to have a relationship. But, because they’ve exaggerated their wealth, they can’t ultimately provide for their sugar baby.

A Splenda Daddy may try to keep you on the line by promising future gifts. But when the time comes to pamper their sugar baby like they deserve, a Splenda Daddy will likely only provide the bare minimum of what they originally promised.

The difference between a Salt and a Splenda Daddy is intention. Salt Daddies generally don’t intend on providing any benefits to their partners. Splenda Daddies may try their best to provide benefits, but tend to fall short on their promises.

Unicorn or whale

A Unicorn or Whale is a provider that is top echelon. Not only do they have the wealth to transform their sugar baby’s life, but they are wildly generous.

A few things to remember about sugar daddy terms

This is a comprehensive guide to popular sugar baby terms in circulation today. But here are a few things to remember when learning sugaring lingo:

• Terminology changes. Just like slang in general, sugaring lingo changes. So, if you see a new term pop up, do some research! You’ll be on the cutting edge of this exciting community.
• If you’re not sure, ask. Sugaring lingo is meant to help you better communicate your needs and expectations in an arrangement. So, if you’re not sure about what a POT is referring to, all you have to do is ask for clarification.
• You can use these terms to your advantage. By sprinkling in sugaring lingo to your online profile, you can attract POTs with similar preferences. Using these keywords can also prevent you from having to explain your expectations to people who are looking for something completely different.

Now that you know the latest sugar baby terms, you’re ready to put them into practice! Have fun, and don’t pressure yourself to know every term. You can always refer back to this glossary of sugar daddy terms for help!