A side menu displaying method and apparatus and a terminal, which relate to the terminal field. The method includes receiving a sliding operation of sliding starting from a side of a screen; detecting whether the sliding operation meets a predefined condition, where the predefined condition includes that a sliding speed of the sliding operation is greater than a preset threshold, and an end position of the sliding operation is not within a preset false touch area; and displaying a side menu corresponding to the side of the screen if a detection result is that the sliding operation meets the predefined condition.