Monkey Barring
Holding onto a partner before moving on to the next
Example
Did you hear Alex already has a new girlfriend? They broke up like… last week
Classic monkey barring. He never lets go until he’s got someone else lined up
Guess being single isn’t his thing
Related Slang
| Benching | Using a person as a backup date |
| Roaching | Secretly dating many romantic partners at the same time |
| Pocketing | Dating a person you are uncertain about |
| Stashing | Dating a person but unwilling to publicly acknowledge it |
| Submarining | Dating a person, disappearing, then reappearing |
| Hiberdating | Ignoring friends while dating a person |
| Boyfriend bomb | A statement that reveals your crush has a boyfriend |
| Girlfriend bomb | A statement that reveals your crush has a girlfriend |
| Caspering | Ending a relationship in a friendly, but confusing way |
| Catch and release | To flirt with someone then stop when the person wants commitment |
Baseball Slang Quiz: Can you bat 1.000?
Monkey barring is a dating slang term that describes when someone doesn't let go of their current relationship until they've secured the next one, like a monkey swinging from bar to bar. Instead of being single in between, they hold onto one partner until they're sure they have another lined up.
It is unclear who invented the term, but it has been circulating online since the mid-2010s. It gained more widespread recognition through dating blogs, Reddit threads, and TikTok videos in the 2020s, where people share stories about messy relationship transitions.
Younger daters most often use the phrase when discussing modern relationship patterns. For example, some use it to call out partners who move on suspiciously fast, while others use it jokingly to describe their own reluctance to be alone.