upskirting

noun

up·​skirt·​ing ˈəp-ˌskər-tiŋ 

variants or less commonly up-skirting

: the act or action of surreptitiously taking a photograph or shooting a video of a person's genital area by aiming a recording device (such as a camera or cellphone) up the person's skirt, dress, etc.

Offenders found guilty of upskirting face up to two years in prison for taking an image or video under somebody's clothing in order to see their genitals or underwear.

—Kevin Manahan

A student who campaigned for up-skirting to be made a criminal offence … has hailed … changes in the law …

—Freya McClements

upskirt

ˈəp-ˌskərt 

transitive verb

upskirted; upskirting; upskirts

A … teacher … was left with PTSD after police told her a student had upskirted her on several occasions without her knowledge.

—Amy Jones

upskirt adjective

A witness … told cabin crew that a man was using a camera to take upskirt pictures of stewardesses …

—Oscar Liu

upskirter noun

plural upskirters

These are not victimless crimes, but damaging invasions of privacy, and so-called "upskirters" will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

—Cyrus Vance Jr., quoted in Daily News (New York)

Examples of upskirting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lawrence’s statement about the breach helped mark an end to the cultural upskirting of the previous decade, when young women were blamed, by default, when others sought their exposure. —Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2025

One upskirting victim, Lydia, caught a man attempting to secretly film under her dress on a street in China’s southwestern Yunnan province two years ago. —Cnn Staff 20 Hr Ago, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

up entry 1 + skirt entry 1 + -ing entry 1

First Known Use

1998, in the meaning defined above