What is the difference between mouseenter and mouseover event in JavaScript and browsers?
By FrontendPro Editorial Team Updated 8/8/2026
Answer
The main difference lies in the bubbling behavior of mouseenter and mouseover events. mouseenter does not bubble while mouseover bubbles.
mouseenter events do not bubble. The mouseenter event is triggered only when the mouse pointer enters the element itself, not its descendants. If a parent element has child elements, and the mouse pointer enters child elements, the mouseenter event will not be triggered on the parent element again; it is only triggered once upon entry of the parent element, without regard for its contents. If both parent and child have mouseenter listeners attached and the mouse pointer moves from the parent element to the child element, mouseenter will only fire for the child.
mouseover events bubble up the DOM tree. The mouseover event is triggered when the mouse pointer enters the element or one of its descendants. If a parent element has child elements, and the mouse pointer enters child elements, the mouseover event will be triggered on the parent element again as well. If the parent element has multiple child elements, this can result in multiple event callbacks fired. If there are child elements, and the mouse pointer moves from the parent element to the child element, mouseover will fire for both the parent and the child.
| Property | mouseenter | mouseover |
|---|---|---|
| Bubbling | No | Yes |
| Trigger | Only when entering itself | When entering itself and when entering descendants |
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