Word phrase video games

Words, abbreviations and slang

AFK – “away from keyboard.” In other words, the player is not available, or active, in the game. If you go to the toilet while you are playing a game, you are AFK. When you come back, you are BAK, “back at keyboard.” ( WATCH VIDEO )

Boss – (noun) a computer controlled enemy, frightening and powerful, but also having weaknesses allowing good players to kill it. ( WATCH VIDEO )

Bro (noun) – An informal way of saying “friend,” a good male friend. Often used with strangers in video games. ( WATCH VIDEO )

Buff (noun) – A strengthening of a character power or abilities. ( WATCH VIDEO )

Bug (noun) – An error in a game’s design or computer programming. Bugs can be minor and easily fixed to major problems which great affects game play ( WATCH VIDEO )

Camping (noun) – Staying/hiding in one place or area and surprising enemies who come there, killing them and taking their loot. ( WATCH VIDEO )

Carry (verb) – to use your skill as a gamer to help one or more teammates compete successfully ( WATCH VIDEO )

Chill – (adj, verb) Relaxed, calm; to relax, have fun, etc. by yourself or with friends (WATCH VIDEO)

Combo (noun) – Combination. a quick set of attacking actions on an enemy

CU, CYA – See You (Goodbye)

Dope (noun) – Something that is really good, awesome, cool ( WATCH VIDEO)

Dub (noun) – Win, from a shortened form of W, the first letter of “win”, pronounced “double U” ( WATCH VIDEO)

Dude (noun) – Man, Guy. What you call someone, usually a male. Similar to “Bro” ( WATCH VIDEO)

Epic – (adjective) – Long and difficult, but xtremely good or enjoyable (WATCH VIDEO) 

Farming – (noun) Gathering or collecting items that make a player stronger and more powerful (WATCH VIDEO) 

First-Person Shooter, FPS (noun) – A shooting game with the camera looking through your character’s eyes

FYI – For Your Information

GB – Goodbye

GG – Good game. You are telling your teammate or opponent that they played well.

Glitch – (noun) a small problem or mistake that prevents something from working properly. (WATCH VIDEO) 

Goosebumps – (noun) the raised spots you get on your skin when you feel cold, frightened or excited. (WATCH VIDEO) 

Grind – (verb) to do something difficult for a long time, trying to achieve something or as part of a job (WATCH VIDEO) 

HF – Have fun

Indie (adj) – “Independently produced game” meaning a game created by a small company or team instead of a giant gaming company

Inventory (noun) – A menu or area of the screen where items (equipment, weapons, materials, etc.) collected by the player-character during the game can be selected. (Watch video)

Items – things players can gather and use during a game, e.g., a weapon, a building material, something that heals, etc.

Lag (verb, noun) – having a slower than normal internet connection, making it difficult to compete with other players in video games; to fall behind, perhaps because of moving or working too slowly; (of a machine or system) not up to date. (WATCH VIDEO) 

Let’s go (expression) – an expression video gamers use after doing something successfully, e.g., winning a game. (WATCH VIDEO) 

Loadout ( noun) – The set of weapons, ammunition and other items a video gamer player has for a fight.. (WATCH VIDEO) 

Loot (noun) – Items you need to survive, e.g.  weapons, medicines, equipment or all kinds, building materials, etc. ( Watch video)

Loot (verb) – to gather the items you need.

Mats (noun) – Materials used to make things, e.g., wood, bricks and metal, esp. in the video game Fortnite.( Watch video)

Meme (noun) – An idea, image, etc. that spreads very quickly

Meta (noun)– “Most Effective Tactics Available”, the best methods available to win or succeed in playing a game. ( Watch video)

Mission (noun)– an important job that a person or a group of people is given to do. It often involves travel, even space travel. ( Watch video)

Nerf (noun, verb)– A weakening of a weapon, character power or ability,’ to reduce the power of a weapon, power or ability ( Watch video)

Newbie (noun) – (Also “noob” or “newb”) A beginner, a person who has no experience with the game being play or a player who has very poor skills. ( Watch video)

Noob (noun) – (Also “newbie” or “newb”) A beginner, a person who has no experience with the game being play or a player who has very poor skills. ( Watch video)

Patch (noun) – in video games a patch repairs weaknesses by correcting errors or making changes to improve a game, e.g., by making a game character or item more powerful (a buff) or less powerful (a nerf). (Watch video)

Peek (verb) – a quick and secret look at something that you should not be looking at (Watch video)

Platform (noun) – For most of us, a “platform” is a flat raised surface like you would see next to the tracks at a train station. For gamers, however, a platform is the type of computer system they use to play their games or the software they use.
( Watch video)

Prone (adjective) – a position in which you are lying flat with the front of your body touching the ground.
( Watch video)

Push (verb) – a position in which you are lying flat with the front of your body touching the ground.
( Watch video)

Quickscope (verb) – to find an enemy quickly in the scope of a gun and shooting him/her. (Watch video)

Role (noun) – the function or position that someone has in an organization or situation; an actor’s part in a play or film.
( Watch video)

Salty (adjective) – upset, disappointed, bitter
( Watch video)

Scrim (noun) – An online practice match between two teams (scrimmage)

Scrub – A very bad player, often one who thinks he/she is good

Shambolic (adj) – very, very bad or very poorly done. Very poorly organized ( Watch video)

Sick (adj) – very good, great, enjoyable, etc (Watch video)

Smurfing – (noun) When an experienced player creates a new account for a game and easily defeats inexperienced players

Spawn {verb) – to cause a character or item to appear in the game (Watch video)

Spicy (adjective) – impressive, awesome, looking very good (Watch video)

STFU – Shut the F**k up (Stop talking)

Streak (noun) – a short period of good or bad luck, e.g., winning or losing four games in a row. (Watch video)

Stream Sniper (noun) – a gamer who sees another gamer’s stream, joins the game and causes the streamer trouble. . (Watch video)

Sweaty (adjective) – (of a game or a situation in a game) very competitive, exciting and stressful (causing you to become anxious).. (Watch video)

Third-Person Shooter (noun) – A shooting game with the camera looking out from behind the character, especially the character’s shoulders

Toxic – (adjective) In gaming: very bad, often rude behavior towards other players. Also poisonous; dangerous to health (Watch video)

Troll – (noun) Modern: A person who tricks other people on the Internet, often just for fun, but sometimes by giving false information or by writing rude and offensive messages to make other people angry. Ancient: A strange-looking, often very large, creature that liked to play tricks on people (Watch video)

Wallbang (verb) – to shoot somebody through a wall. . (Watch video)

Vibes (noun) – a mood or feeling that you get from a person, place or, in this case, a video game. (Watch video)

WTF – What the F**k

WTH – What the Hell**

With an estimated 3.24 billion video gamers in the world, gaming can be an exhilarating and practical way to improve your language skills. To succeed at many of the most popular online games, you need to co-operate and communicate with other players – often against the clock. So, when it comes to those games popular with English speakers, the better you know gamer slang, the better your gaming experience will be.

If you’re new to it, gaming language can seem a world away from formal English. Get online and you’ll soon find that gamer talk is peppered with acronyms, slang and distinctive words that describe everything from a player’s gaming style to the enemies you encounter in the virtual world.

The good news is that getting to grips with English gaming phrases isn’t difficult. Even if you’re a noob, learning the most common gaming vocabulary will give you a great start – whether you’re playing Minecraft, Fortnite, League of Legends, World of Warcraft or any of the other hugely popular Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs / MMOGs) that are out there.

To get you started, we take a look at 25 common English gaming phrases and what they mean. To make things simple, we’ve put them into two groups – Gaming Acronyms and Gamer Slang. GLHF!

Gaming Acronyms

1. BRB. This means ‘Be Right Back’ – handy for when you need to grab a drink. If you’re away from the game for longer, use AFK (‘Away From Keyboard).
2. CU / CYA. Leaving the game? These mean ‘see you’ / ‘see ya’ (goodbye).
3. DLC. This stands for Downloadable Content – extra features that you can download from within the game, like characters, tools, costumes, levels and other items. Some DLCs are free, while others cost money.
4. GG / GGWP. If someone has played well, say so with GG (Good Game) or GGWP (Good Game, Well Played). But be careful – GG can also be used sarcastically to taunt a losing player (i.e. it means ‘Bad Game’!) or to brag about a victory (GG EZ means ‘Good Game, Easy’).
5. GLHF. Good Luck, Have Fun. Often used in a friendly way to wish other players luck at the beginning of a game.
6. IRL. In Real Life – this is used to refer to something happening in the real world, not the game.
7. MP. Magic Points or Mana Points – these measure your power to use special magical abilities.
8. OTW. This is ‘On The Way’. You can say this to tell other players you’re on the way to help them.
9. WTT. ‘Want To Trade’. Use this to tell another player you want to trade an item or items.
10. XP. These are (E)Xperience Points – as you progress through levels, gain new skills and powers, you build up XP.

Gamer Slang

Had enough of acronyms for the time being? Then try out these words and phrases…

1. Adds. These are ‘additional enemies’ which you often have to fight during ‘boss’ encounters (see no. 13)
2. Bots. A bot is an automated, non-human opponent – some games let you play against bots if you’re not online. Sometimes you’ll see human players calling other people bots, but it’s best to avoid this as it’s an insult.
3. Boss A ‘boss’ is a really tough enemy who frequently appears at the end of a level or a game. Defeating them can take a hard-won combination of skills, weapons or powers.
4. Buff / Nerf. Any change that makes in-game characters or weapons more powerful is called a ‘buff’. The opposite is a ‘nerf’. The term ‘nerf’ comes from a brand of toy guns with soft bullets (i.e. ones that are designed to not cause injury!)
5. Camping. This phrase refers to staying or hiding in one place or area of an online world. Some players do this to surprise and ambush enemies. Lots of players frown on this behaviour.
6. Cheesing. If you’re cheesing, you’re using powerful strategies that are easy to deploy and nearly impossible for an opponent to beat. Sometimes people do this by taking advantage of a glitch in a game.
7. Easter Eggs. An Easter egg is a hidden feature, reference, in-joke or message in a game. This article has 15 of the best over the years.
8. Farming / Grinding. Grinding refers to a player performing repetitive tasks to gain benefits such as weapons, loot or XP. Farming is similar, but is used when a character repeatedly acquires loot from a single source.
9. Hacking / Hacker.Hacking / Hacker. These words mean cheating or a cheater – if someone is being called a hacker, other players are accusing them of cheating in some way.
10. Get Rekt / Git Rekd. These mean ‘get wrecked’. You’d use them to describe a player who has suffered a major defeat. It’s often used as an insult, so be careful when using it.
11. Mats. Short for ‘materials’, such as wood, stone, brick and metal in games like Fortnite.
12. Pwned. A misspelling of ‘owned’, if you’ve been pwned it means you’ve been beaten in a game.
13. Noob. This word means ‘newbie’ – someone who’s an inexperienced player.
14. Ragequit. This is when someone gets so enraged during a game that they stop playing and leave.
15. Stomp. A stomp is a very one-sided game – if someone on your team says ‘we’re getting stomped’, it means they think things are going badly!

Why gaming phrases boost your English learning

As you can see, the language of gaming is rich, amusing and ingenious, as well as great fun to use. The beauty of using online games to improve your English is that you can interact with thousands of different players worldwide – while enjoying yourself so much that you almost forget you’re learning.

So, whether you’re into role-playing games, no-nonsense first-person shooter games, simulations, strategy games or something completely different, use them to develop your knowledge of gaming phrases. As you’ll discover in English Online’s live online classes, the key to learning a language is to experiment and practise in ways you enjoy – not to ragequit!