SBF

What Does SBF Mean in a Text?

The Growing Glossary of Dating Slang

If you're new to online dating, then I'm afraid there is whole new language with well over 250 terms for you to learn.

Particularly since the rise of the iKids, people have been far more open about their sexual preferences and desires, and this has generated a long glossary of new dating terms. Many sexual preferences are still abbreviated on dating sites, presumably with the idea that those who do not understand the term do not need to know it. That thinking does not help newcomers though. Here is the term you're looking for:

SBF means "Snapchat Best Friend" or "Single Black Female."

More Detail...

Snapchat Best Friend

BF most commonly means "Snapchat Best Friend." In this context, it is commonly seen in the plural form "SBFs" or "SBFS" (Snapchat Best Friends). For example:

Sam: Do you want to be my SBF?
Ali: Yes! SBFS forever!

Check out our list of Snapchat emojis.

Single Black Female

When seen on dating sites, SBF means "Single Black Female." For example:

David: How would you describe yourself?
Leah: SBF with a look of Whitney.

See our complete list of digital dating Abbreviations.

Image for SBF

When I write SBF, I mean this:

SBF also means "Single Black Female.

Summary of Key Points

We have summarized the key points in the table below:

SBF
Definition:	Snapchat Best Friend
Type:	Abbreviation
Guessability:	3: Guessable
Typical Users:	Adults and Teenagers

Second Definition for SBF

SBF also means "Single Black Female" on online dating sites, such as Craigslist, Tinder, Zoosk and Match.com, as well as in texts and on adult chat forums.

SBF
Definition:	Single Black Female
Type:	Abbreviation
Guessability:	2: Quite easy to guess
Typical Users:	Adults

An Academic Look at SBF

As it is pronounced using its individual letters (i.e., "Ess Bee Eff"), SBF is classified as an initialism abbreviation. Initialisms are different to acronyms, which are spoken like words. In both meanings, SBF is used as a noun. More accurately, it is a noun phrase (i.e., a group of words that play the role of a noun). Dating sites are full of specialist abbreviations, which have their roots in a time when personal ads featured in local newspapers and users were charged by the word. (A term like SBF (Single Black Female) would cost the user the fee for one word as opposed to three.)