dt element

If you don't know what an element is or how you must use it, I recommend you read the "HTML tags and attributes" tutorial that you can find in the HTML tutorials section.

Description

The dt element represents a name in a description list (dl). These names or terms are usually accompanied by a value or definition (dd) that describes them. This type of lists can be used for different purposes like metadata topics and values, questions and answers, glossaries, vocabulary lists, etc.

In name-value lists, there could be more than one name for a single value and viceversa. These variants are arbitrary and left to the author's consideration.

Examples

Our first example consist of a cooking glossary represented by the elements dl, dt and dd. Here you can see name-value lists in action and how each term (dt) is associated with a definition (dd).

<h1>Glossary of cooking terms</h1>
<dl>
  <dt>Bake</dt>
  <dd>To cook by dry heat, usually in the oven.</dd>
  <dt>Boil</dt>
  <dd>To heat a liquid until bubbles break continually on the surface.</dd>
  <dt>Degrease</dt>
  <dd>To remove fat from the surface of stews, soups, or stock. Usually cooled in the refrigerator so that fat hardens and is easily removed.</dd>
</dl>

Glossary of cooking terms

Bake
To cook by dry heat, usually in the oven.
Boil
To heat a liquid until bubbles break continually on the surface.
Degrease
To remove fat from the surface of stews, soups, or stock. Usually cooled in the refrigerator so that fat hardens and is easily removed.

In our second example we'll show a vocabulary reference where one definition is declared for two terms ("tomb" and "grave") and one term ("corpse") gets two definitions.

<h1>Vocabulary for the document</h1>
<dl>
  <dt>Tomb</dt>
  <dt>Grave</dt>
  <dd>An excavation for the interment of a corpse; a place of burial.</dd>
  <dt>Corpse</dt>
  <dd>A dead body, especially the dead body of a human; cadaver.</dd>
  <dd>(Theatre) <i>theatre</i> to laugh or cause to laugh involuntarily or inopportunely while on stage.</dd>
</dl>

Vocabulary for the document

Tomb
Grave
An excavation for the interment of a corpse; a place of burial.
Corpse
A dead body, especially the dead body of a human; cadaver.
(Theatre) theatre to laugh or cause to laugh involuntarily or inopportunely while on stage.

Attributes

Global attributes

For information about global attributes refer to this list of global attributes in HTML5.

Events

Global events

For information about global events refer to this list of global events in HTML5.