If you recently noticed someone looking at your lips then you’re probably wondering why. This post will tell you a number of reasons why someone might do it and will try to help you to figure out the meaning in real-time in the future.

So, what does it mean when someone looks at your lips? Possible meanings are that they find you attractive and are thinking of kissing you, they’re trying to understand what you’re saying, they like how your lips look, they’re nervous or they might be mirroring your behavior.

People often assume that when someone looks at their lips it must be due to attraction but that isn’t necessarily the case. It can have multiple meanings and the best way to figure it out will be to consider the person doing it, the location and other body language signals that they’re giving.

What it means when someone looks at your lips

There are a number of different possible meanings and I will mention a number of them below.

They’re thinking of kissing you

The most obvious reason that a person might look at your lips is that they are thinking of kissing you.

When this is the case there will likely be a number of other hints that it is what they are thinking. You may notice that they talk to you more than others, touch you frequently, hold their gaze with you for longer, their pupils might dilate more when they’re with you and they might tend to rub their face, neck, arms or legs when they’re with you.

It will also be more likely to be the reason if it is when you’re on a date with the person or if you know that they like you. If you haven’t met them before then they may be giving you a number of the body language signals mentioned above and you’ll likely find that they tend to glance in your direction and they may point their feet towards you.

They’re trying to understand what you’re saying

The reason that the person might be staring at your lips could be because they are trying to understand what you are saying.

This would be more likely to be the case if you are in a loud environment or if they are deaf.

They will likely look at your lips in a different way to a person that is thinking of kissing you. They will likely look at your lips while you are talking, they will likely look at them for longer, they may squint their eyes slightly and they may not be showing the signs of attraction mention above.

They like how they look

The reason that they might be looking at your lips could simply be because they like how your lips look.

This would be more likely to be the case if you happen to be wearing brighter lipstick.

They’re nervous

The reason that the person might be looking at your lips might be because they are nervous and they feel uncomfortable looking you in the eyes.

If this is the case then they will likely show some signs of anxiety. They might be rubbing their legs, face, neck or arms often, they might be giving more nervous laughs, they might be talking in a higher pitch than usual, they might be tapping their feet and pointing them towards the exit (signals that they want to leave) and they might have slightly constricted pupils.

They’re mirroring your behavior

When we are with people that we like or find attractive it can cause us to begin to mirror their behavior in order to build rapport with them. The reason that they might be looking at your lips could be because they are actually mirroring your behavior.

If this is the case then it would be likely that you actually tend to look at their lips and it might be the case that they are mirroring other parts of your body. For example, if you cross your legs then they might as well.

Consider the environment

When trying to figure out why someone might look at your lips it can help to consider the environment that you’re in.

If you‘re in a social setting that’s loud then it will make it more likely that they are looking at your lips in order to understand what you’re saying. If it’s a social setting and the person is the opposite sex as you then it will also be more likely that it is due to attraction assuming that they are showing other signs of attraction.

If it’s in a business setting then it will make it more likely that it was due to the person being nervous especially if the person is new or in a lower position than you. However, it could also have been due to trying to better understand what you are saying.

Consider other body language signals that they’re showing

When you’re trying to figure out why someone might have looked at your lips it would be helpful to consider the other body language signals that they are showing you.

If you notice that they are frequently touching their neck or rubbing their arms, face, legs or neck then that could signal that they are feeling anxious. This would suggest that the reason that they looked at your lips was due to them feeling too nervous to look you in the eyes. It could also suggest that they are attracted to you but they are feeling nervous.

An important part of the body to look at when trying to figure out how someone might be feeling is their feet. People learn how to hide their emotions by controlling their face but they don’t tend to think about changing what they do with their feet. This can make the feet a reliable indicator of how someone is feeling.

When someone is attracted to a person or if they particularly like someone it will actually cause them to point their feet towards that person. This means that if the person looked at your lips and they aren’t sat right in front of you but they are pointing their feet towards you then it would suggest that they looked at your lips due to attraction (but that’s not 100% definite).

On the other hand, if you notice that they are tapping one of their feet and they looked at your lips. Then it would suggest that they are not feeling comfortable where they are and they are thinking of leaving. In this case, you should consider if their feet are facing away from you, if they are glancing away and if they are showing other signs of anxiety to support this.

Another body part that you should consider is the eyes. If a person is feeling good it can cause their pupils to constrict so if the person looked at your lips and you noticed that they had dilated pupils then it would suggest that they wanted to kiss you. On the other hand, if their pupils are noticeably constricted then it would suggest that they are not feeling comfortable.

Consider the person doing it

considering what you know about the person that looked at your lips can help you to figure out why they might have done it.

If it was a friend then they would be less likely to have done it due to nervousness and would be more likely either be because they are trying to understand what you’re saying, because they are intrigued by your lips or because they are mirroring your body language.

If it was someone that works for you then it would make it more likely that it was due to nervousness or trying to understand what you were saying.

If it was a person that you hadn’t met before then it could have been that they were nervous, looking at your lipstick or they might have been thinking about kissing you. In this case, it would be particularly important to consider their other body language signals and the environment since you won’t know much about the person.

Think about when they looked at your lips

Another thing to consider is when they looked at your lips.

If they looked at your lips as soon as they saw you then it would make it more likely that they looked at them because they found your lips interesting.

While, if it was after speaking to them after a while and it was on a date then it would make it more likely that it was due to attraction.

Related Content

Why does my boss look at my lips? If the person that looks at your lips is your boss then it would make it less likely to be due to nervousness. It may have been due to them trying to better understand what you were saying, they might have been looking at your lipstick or they might even have been doing it due to being attracted to you.

If you want to learn more about body language, a book I would recommend would be The Definitive Book of Body Language (on Amazon). It shows you how to interpret body language and understand people's true intentions.

Author

I created and currently manage Body Language Central, one of the premier sources for body language-related knowledge. Body language plays a key role in our daily lives. I hope that my website can help condense the wide amount of body language information available and allow you to make full use of it in your daily life. You can read more about me and my website here.