HTML 5 <dfn> Tag

The HTML <dfn> tag is used for indicating a definition. The <dfn> tag surrounds the word/term being defined.

Note: Although this element has no element-specific attributes, the title attribute has special semantics for this element. If the <dfn> tag has a title attribute, then the exact value of that attribute is the term being defined.

Example

Here are two examples of <dfn> usage. The second example demonstrates how to use the <dfn> tag in conjunction with the <abbr> tag.

Attributes

HTML tags can contain one or more attributes. Attributes are added to a tag to provide the browser with more information about how the tag should appear or behave. Attributes consist of a name and a value separated by an equals (=) sign, with the value surrounded by double quotes. Here's an example, style="color:black;".

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The attributes that you can add to this tag are listed below.

Element-Specific Attributes

The following table shows the attributes that are specific to this tag/element.

AttributeDescription
None, but the title attribute has special semantics for this element. If the <dfn> tag has a title attribute, then the exact value of that attribute is the term being defined.

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML 5 tags.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Here are the standard HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.