In several documented American folk-belief collections, itchy lips predict a kiss. One of the clearest early examples appears in an 1896 collection, where a belief recorded in Boston says that itching lips mean someone will kiss you.[1] Other collections preserve different versions, including kissing someone, being kissed, or attaching a more specific meaning to an itching upper lip.
These are recorded superstitions rather than predictions. The surviving records also show why there is no single reliable rule for deciding what an upper, lower, left, or right lip itch is supposed to mean.
What Itchy Lips Mean in Recorded Superstitions
The connection between itching lips and kissing appears in records separated by decades and collected in different parts of the United States. The wording changes from one collection to another.
| Record | Place or Context | Meaning of the Itch |
|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Boston, Massachusetts | Itching lips mean that someone will kiss you.[1] |
| 1935 | Adams County, Illinois | Several variants were recorded: itching lips could mean you will kiss someone, while an itching upper lip could mean that you will be kissed. The same collection also preserves an upper-lip omen involving the arrival of a man with a mustache.[2] |
| 1967 | James T. Callow Folklore Archive | A record learned from friends says itching lips mean the person will soon kiss or be kissed.[3] |
| Published in a 1991 Kentucky manual | Material from Western Kentucky University folklore archives | An itching upper lip means that the person will be kissed by a fool.[4] |
The common thread is an approaching kiss. The details are much less stable. Some versions place the person with the itchy lips on the receiving end of the kiss, while others say that person will do the kissing.
The records also do not necessarily describe a romantic kiss. The Boston entry simply predicts that someone will kiss you, and the 1967 record says only that the person will kiss or be kissed. Interpreting every itchy-lip omen as a promise of romance, a date, or a new relationship goes beyond what those records actually say.
What Does an Itchy Upper Lip Mean?
The upper lip has more documented special variants than the lower lip in the older collections cited here.
Harry Middleton Hyatt’s 1935 collection from Adams County gives more than one interpretation in the same group of mouth and lip beliefs. An itching upper lip can mean that the person will be kissed. A separate entry says that an itching upper lip foretells the arrival of a man with a mustache.[2]
The Kentucky material supplies another version: an itching upper lip means you will be kissed by a fool. The wording is playful, but it also shows that a particular local or transmitted version can add a description of the future kisser rather than changing the basic kissing theme.
A later superstition quiz published in British Council teaching materials gives yet another division: an itching upper lip means being kissed by someone tall.[5] This is useful evidence that the tall-kisser version has circulated, although the teaching material does not provide the same collection details as an archival folklore record.
What Does an Itchy Lower Lip Mean?
The neat upper-versus-lower system often attached to this superstition is not consistent across the older records. The 1896 Boston belief refers simply to the lips. The 1967 folklore record does the same. Hyatt’s Adams County material singles out the upper lip in some variants but does not establish a matching lower-lip rule.
The British Council material does provide a paired version: upper lip for a kiss from someone tall and lower lip for a kiss from someone short.[5] It is best treated as one circulating variant, not as a universal meaning of a lower-lip itch.
Claims that a lower-lip itch always predicts a friendly kiss, a particular gender of kisser, gossip, or a specific type of relationship should therefore be treated cautiously unless they are tied to a particular documented tradition.
Does the Left or Right Side of the Lip Change the Omen?
The historical records above do not establish a stable left-lip versus right-lip system. This matters because many body superstitions do distinguish sides. Ear, eye, hand, and foot omens often appear in left-and-right forms, but the documented itchy-lip records used here generally distinguish either the lips as a whole or the upper lip.
A modern chart that assigns separate predictions to the left upper lip, right upper lip, left lower lip, and right lower lip may represent a particular recent tradition, but those divisions should not be presented as the standard historical version of the kissing omen.
Is an Itchy Lip Good Luck or Bad Luck?
In the strongest early records, an itchy lip is better described as a social or courtship omen than as a straightforward good-luck or bad-luck sign. The 1896 example appears among courting and wedding signs, alongside beliefs about lovers, marriage, and romantic attention.
Some variants are favorable or teasing rather than lucky in the usual sense. Being kissed may sound pleasant, while being “kissed by a fool” adds comic uncertainty. Hyatt’s collection even records a completely different interpretation in which itching lips mean someone is crying about you.[2]
That disagreement is normal in folklore. Bergen’s 1896 collection explicitly notes that different meanings can become attached to the same act, accident, or coincidence.[1] An omen can change as it moves between families, communities, regions, and generations.
Why Kissing Became Attached to an Itching Lip
The structure of the belief is simple: an unexplained sensation in a body part is interpreted as a sign of something that body part will soon do. Lips naturally suggest kissing, just as other body-omen traditions connect feet with journeys or hands with future exchanges.
The more elaborate versions appear to build on that basic association. Once itching lips are understood as a kissing sign, oral tradition can add another detail: who will initiate the kiss, what the other person will be like, or whether the upper lip carries a different prediction.
This helps explain why the shortest form of the superstition is also one of the most persistent: itchy lips mean a kiss is coming. The archival evidence supports that as a documented folk belief, while the details surrounding the kiss vary considerably.
When the Itch Has a Physical Cause
An actual lip itch does not indicate that a kiss is about to occur. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that an itchy, painful, dry, or flaky rash on or around the lips can occur with contact dermatitis. Products and materials that touch the lips, including lip balm, lipstick, toothpaste, and musical instruments, can sometimes be responsible.[6] Persistent irritation, cracking, swelling, or a visible rash belongs to the physical rather than folkloric side of the subject.
Sources and Records
- ↑1a ↑1b ↑1c Fanny D. Bergen, ed., Current Superstitions: Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk,
- ↑2a ↑2b ↑2c Harry Middleton Hyatt, Folk-Lore from Adams County Illinois,
- ↑3 University of Detroit Mercy Libraries, The James T. Callow Folklore Archive,
- ↑4 Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, READiscover Kentucky: A Children’s Services Manual,
- ↑5a ↑5b British Council TeachingEnglish, Lucky — Preparation Materials,
- ↑6 American Academy of Dermatology, “Itchy Rash Could Be Contact Dermatitis”,
Documented Locations
Countries: Turkmenistan
These labels identify where a version has been documented. They do not mean that everyone in the country, region, or community shares the belief.