The Sapphic Sanctuary
What does WLW mean?
WLW stands for women loving women. It covers women and woman-aligned people who are romantically or sexually drawn to other women, whatever their specific orientation. In everyday use, people treat WLW and sapphic as near-synonyms.
Last updated: July 19, 2026
WLW started as online shorthand and stuck. You will see it written in capitals or lowercase, often in bios, tags, and fan spaces. It takes in lesbians, bi and pan women, and other women-aligned people who love women.
For most purposes, WLW and sapphic overlap almost entirely. The counterpart term for men who love men is MLM, and achillean is used the way sapphic is on the sapphic side.