15 Types of Kisses and What They Actually Mean

What are the benefits of kissing?

Short version: kissing is part of the “affectionate touch” family. It calms your stress response, deepens bonding, and—over time—may nudge a few heart-health markers in a good direction. It’s not medicine; it’s relationship hygiene.

• Takes the edge off stress (fast). Warm partner contact before a stressful moment can blunt blood-pressure, heart-rate, and cortisol spikes—kissing fits that same family of touch.⁶
• Supports “closeness chemistry.” In everyday-life tracking, more affectionate touch is linked with higher oxytocin and better mood; experimental work with embraces shows softer stress responses. Think of a kiss as a small, frequent “connection ping.”⁷
• Lifestyle-level heart perks. In a 6-week trial where couples were asked to kiss more often, perceived stress dropped and cholesterol profiles improved; newer population analyses suggest lower stress partly explains those lipid shifts.⁸⁹
• Practical mood buffer. On tough days, simple partner touch (e.g., a hug) is associated with calmer physiology and better mood—kissing can play a similar supportive role when it’s welcome.¹⁰

Use it well: build a tiny ritual—hello/goodbye kiss or a 10-second “reset” after work. Keep consent and comfort front and center (skip kissing when you’re sick or during a cold-sore outbreak).¹¹¹²

15 Types of Kisses and What They Actually Mean

Is there a better way to say "I love you" than a kiss? You'll be hard put to find a universal display of affection than locking lips, as it occurs in every civilization from the natives of the Amazon rainforest to the mainstream of Western culture. Kissing is an art form, and each kiss expresses something a little different than the last. Let's dissect 15 kiss types and their meanings to better practice this art form on our partners.

A Peck on the Cheek

A peck on the cheek is often a simple "hello." In many European cultures, it's nearly akin to a handshake. There's no deeper meaning…unless both of you want there to be.

Forehead Kiss

You may want to express that you like someone but are simply too shy to make a more intimate move (i.e., a liplock). Kissing someone on the forehead will show you care enough to want a physical connection with the person in question.

The "Muah!" Kiss

"Muaaaahhhh!" Like a mating call, an air kiss is a demonstration of your affection for someone. You're presenting your lips for that person and signaling you want a liplock. If they don't smile at this display, they're probably not on the same page.

A Kiss On The Hand

"Aw, mademoiselle, how lovely to meet you!" This kiss happens more often at a guy's initiative. A kiss on the hand demonstrates respect and admiration. Simply grasp the hand of the person you admire and kiss the top of the palm. Any woman will likely find this chivalrous and charming…that is if she finds you chivalrous and charming.

Butterfly Kiss

At the beginning of a relationship, you may start off with flirty kisses. They are playful and light, like butterflies. When you kiss someone lightly on the lips but are close enough to flutter their eyelashes with yours, you're engaging in a butterfly kiss. The butterfly kiss is not seriously intimate; it's a way to say, "I like you."

Single-lip Lock

Now, for some lip-locking action. The single-lip lock is where you really kiss. You suck on the bottom lip of your kissing partner between both of yours, indicating you're ready for more intimacy.

Angel Kiss

Let's get down to business. Angel kisses are more than a simple peck on the cheek or lips. They're when you softly and gently kiss someone's face in other areas, like their eyelids or their nose, suggesting you want more and more of them.

Earlobe Kiss

And so you'll have more with the earlobe kiss. This romantic kiss takes place at the ear (obviously) and involves a lot of tongue and tugging action. The earlobe kiss increases passion, as the ear is one of those super-sensitive erogenous zones.

Time-stopping Kiss

Returning to the lips, your make-out session should now stop time. A time-stopping kiss is a lip-on-lip number that puts you in a zone of space where time no longer exists.

French Kiss

No list of kisses would be complete without the French kiss. Master Frenching and you'll definitely please your kissing partner. This erotic kiss involves knowing how to use your tongue and turns the heat up on your relationship ten-fold.

Kiss of the Lizard

Another intimate kiss with a lot of tongue action, the kiss of the lizard, is when your tongue slides quickly in and out of your partner's mouth. It's like playing tongue hockey, and if your partner likes to play, they'll love this kiss.

Open-mouth Bite

This is a French kiss with a little bite. You may open-mouth bite your partner's lips, cheeks, chin, forehead, or other facial regions. And then move onto the next…

Necking

Planting your lips on the neck of your partner is a whole other level of intimacy. Kissing, licking, and sucking this erogenous zone adds more and more eroticism to the mix.

The Tease

When you're both ready to move your repertoire forward, the tease is one way to go. The tease involves kissing from the top of your partner's forehead down to their lips, chin, neck, chest…and further. The tease signals you're way more than friends now.

Secret Signal Kiss

Lastly, one of the best kisses between partners is the secret message kiss. This is an agreed-upon signal between you and your loved one, informing them that you're ready if they are!

As in different countries, there is a line of what is permissible, so there is a thin thread between people - attachment when lovers want to get to know each other "better." In the cult of modernity, a variety of types of kissing on the lips are studied, from rubbing with the noses' tips to passionate kissing with the tongue's penetration to the glands. You can exaggerate as much as you like, but learning kissing techniques requires many days of practice, a brave partner, and desire on both sides.

Myths vs. facts about kissing

Myth	Fact (what we actually know)	Why this matters
“Kissing is basically a workout.”	Any calorie burn is small—benefits are mostly about stress & bonding, not fat-burn.	Enjoy it for connection, not cardio.
“Only long, intense kisses ‘count’ for health.”	Even light affectionate contact (hugs, gentle touch, brief kisses) can blunt stress reactivity.	Small, frequent moments add up.6
“Kissing always lowers blood pressure.”	Partner contact can reduce stress-related BP/HR spikes, but effects vary and it’s not a treatment.	Phrase benefits as lifestyle support, not medical advice.6
“Kissing can’t change health markers.”	Asking couples to kiss more was linked to lower stress and improved cholesterol; later work suggests stress partly explains the lipid link.	A simple habit may help overall well-being.89
“Kissing is unhygienic and bad for you.”	A 10-second French kiss can transfer ~80 million bacteria; partners often share similar oral microbiota. For healthy people, this exchange isn’t inherently harmful.	Put “germs” in perspective; hygiene still matters.213
“You can’t get sick from kissing.”	Some infections spread via saliva/close contact (e.g., HSV-1). Risk is highest with active sores, but asymptomatic shedding happens.	Skip kissing when sick or during an outbreak; disclose and take care.1112
“Oxytocin from touch is just a buzzword.”	Field and lab work link affectionate touch with higher oxytocin and calmer stress patterns.	Validates why small moments of closeness feel good.710

Interesting Facts About Kissing

Almost all kissing types on the lips are accompanied by the release of hormones of passion and happiness. But this is not the most interesting discovery. There are several facts in the world that scientists have cited to prove that the exchange of microbes, according to philemophobes, is not at all a reason to deny yourself the benefits of a pleasant activity. The current partners also manage to combine two things at once, who is above all the meanness that defiles the significance of such an event between people.

• The longest kiss lasted 58 hours, 35 minutes, and 58 seconds between the Tiranarats. This is a Guinness World Record ¹. However, soon after, Guinness World Record deactivated the record category. They did this because the competition had become too dangerous, and some of the rules conflicted with their current, updated policies.
• The French kiss is a method of exchanging 80+ million bacteria. According to Microbiome magazine ², couples who kiss more than ten times every day are destined for healthy relationships. They have the same types of bacteria. So one can argue how harmful or useful it is to engage in such "hooliganism."
• In the book by William Cane, "The Art of Kissing," statistics are given: 54% of women love clean-shaven men. 33% are ready to kiss with their lover's stubble, while the rest decided to give up such activity to preserve their skin's smoothness ³. Yes, it is not very pleasant to feel a burning sensation after passing through an abrasive brush.
• John Bohannon has proven that people remember their first kiss better than sex. The survey was conducted among 500 people ⁴. The results surprised everyone.
• 2/3 of people tilt their head to the right when kissing. Neuropsychologist Onur Güntürkün, observing people for 16 years, came to this conclusion based on his research ⁵. It will probably take another 15 years to understand why.

Also, the couples decided to diversify some types of kissing on the lips to bring exotic to their relationship. And that's what came of it.

Evidence from relationship & health studies; not medical advice.

References Update timeline

1. Guinness World Records – Why did we deactivate the longest kiss world record? ↩
2. Biomedcentral – French kiss transfers 80 million bacteria ↩
3. William Cane – The Art of Kissing (1991) ↩
4. University of Texas News – A kiss is not just a kiss ↩
5. PubMed – Kissing couples tilt to the right ↩
6. Grewen KM, Anderson BJ, Girdler SS, Light KC. Warm partner contact is related to lower cardiovascular reactivity. Biol Psychol. 2003. ↩
7. Schneider E, et al. Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels. eLife. 2023. ↩
8. Floyd K, Boren JP. Effects of increased romantic kissing on blood lipids, stress, and relationship satisfaction. 6-week trial. 2009. ↩
9. Floyd K. Lipidemic effects of kissing are mediated by stress (MIDUS). 2023. ↩
10. Light KC, Grewen KM, Amico JA. Frequent partner hugs, lower BP, and higher oxytocin. Biol Psychol. 2005. ↩
11. CDC – Oral herpes (HSV-1): transmission & prevention. ↩
12. Miller CS, et al. Asymptomatic shedding of HSV-1 in the oral cavity. J Am Dent Assoc. 2008. ↩
13. Kort R, et al. Shaping the oral microbiota through intimate kissing. Microbiome. 2014. ↩

We regularly review and refresh articles to reflect newer studies and expert input, so you always get the most relevant guidance.

Current version

Oct 24, 2025

• Edited by — Editorial Team

Edited

Sep 24, 2025

• Edited by — Editorial Team

Created

Feb 22, 2021

• Written by - Wingman Barney