What is the term for a temporary email address used to avoid spam?

What is the term for a temporary email address used to avoid spam? The answer is disposable email address. It is an address created for a limited purpose or for a particular contact, allowing the owner to abandon or cancel it if it begins receiving unwanted mail.

Disposable addresses are useful when registering for websites, discussion forums, online shopping, downloads, or other services where a user does not want to expose a primary mailbox. Many disposable-address providers forward incoming messages to a real inbox while keeping that inbox address hidden.

The term can describe both short-lived “throwaway” mailboxes and longer-lasting aliases that can be disabled independently. Plus addressing, such as [email protected], offers a related technique, though it usually reveals the underlying address and is not always accepted by websites.

Disposable addresses are not a perfect anti-spam solution. Data leaks can expose them, and some websites block known disposable-mail domains. Their main advantage is containment: one compromised address can be discarded without changing the user's primary email.