<dt>

The <dt> tag is used in HTML to define a term in a definition list, generally within a <dl> (a definition list 😗).

It indicates a term that will be followed by its definition with the <dd> tag.

Structure and syntax of the <dt> tag

Basic structure and syntax

Here is the basic syntax of a <dt> tag:

<dl>
  <dt>Term</dt>
  <dd>Definition of the term</dd>
</dl>

The <dt> tag must always be used within the <dl> tag to specify a term, followed by the <dd> tag which gives the definition.

Usage example

Here is an example of using the <dt> tag:

<dl>
  <dt>HTML</dt>
  <dd>Hypertext Markup Language, the markup language for structuring web pages.</dd>
  <dt>CSS</dt>
  <dd>Cascading Style Sheets, used for styling HTML documents.</dd>
</dl>

In this example, we declare two definitions: first their title and then a brief description.

Attributes

The <dt> tag does not accept specific attributes other than the generic ones like class, id, or style.

Difference with other similar tags

• <dl>: The <dl> tag is used to encapsulate a list of terms and their definitions, in which each term is defined by a <dt> tag and each definition by a <dd> tag.
• <dd>: The <dd> tag is used to provide the definition of the term specified in the <dt> tag.

Browser compatibility

The <dt> tag is supported by all modern browsers.