A guide to CS:GO slang

Counter-Strike has a steep learning curve and getting to grips with the terminology can be a tremendous factor in how well you adapt to the game.

When you pick up CS:GO for the first time, new words and phrases will become quickly apparent. On top of all the many callouts, you’ll have to learn the terminology used in voice chat.

Have you ever tried explaining a complex TV series, movie, or concept to someone with no prior knowledge of the subject? It’s not easy. Learning the language of CS:GO is similarly difficult to grasp.

Here’s a guide to almost all the slang used within the world of CS:GO. The words, their meanings, and their origins are included in this alphabetic dictionary.

#

• 1g: where a player accidentally kills themselves with an incendiary grenade or Molotov. Jaryd “summit1g” Lazar did exactly that at DreamHack Austin in 2016, losing his team the game.

A

• AC (Anti-cheat): a program used to detect cheating
• Ace: when a player kills all five enemies in a single round
• ADR (average damage per round): a value that displays how many points of damage a player dealt in a single round
• Aimbot: a cheating program that allows players to automatically shoot at enemies without manually aiming themselves
• Aimpunch: when a player’s screen shakes from side to side because of their lack of armor
• Anchor: a player who holds a bomb site on defense on the edges of the map
• Anti-eco: a situation where a team with rifles must win the round against another team who has pistols
• Anti-flash: when a player looks at a wall to avoid the effects of a flashbang, usually used against attacking terrorists
• Anti-strat: a situation where a team knows the strategy of another, and they predict what their opponent will do
• Auto: a semi-automatic shotgun (XM-1014) or sniper (SCAR-20/GSG9)

B

• Bait: a player using their teammate to lure an enemy into an unfavorable situation
• Bhop (bunny hop): a skilled movement that allows players to traverse the map quicker than normal
• Boost: when a player allows their teammate to move into an elevated position by crouching and letting them jump on their head

C

• Crabwalk: a movement where a player crouches and moves around the map with a pistol or knife.
• CT (Counter-Terrorist): the defending team on a bomb defusal or hostage map
• Clutch: a situation where a lone player wins the round when they’re sorely outnumbered
• Crossfire: a situation where players look at the same entrance into a defending bomb site
• Comp: a 30-round competitive game typically played in Matchmaking
• Counter-boost: when a player is boosted into a position that’s common for an enemy team to use
• Counter-strafe: an instance where a linear movement is stopped by pressing the opposite key (e.g. A and D, W and S). This is used to set a player’s velocity to zero for the most accurate aim possible
• Cyka blyat: a Russian insult (“whore bitch”) commonly said as a joke

D

• Default: a standard strategy used by a team at the start of a round
• Demo: a replay video of a previous match
• Dink: a headshot that may or may not kill a player
• DM (deathmatch): a free-for-all game mode commonly used in a warm-up routine
• Drop: a player gives their teammate a weapon
• Dry-peek: a situation when a player aggresses another without the use of a flash

E

• Eco: a round that involves a team collectively saving their money because they have insufficient funds for more powerful weapons
• Eco-frag: a player gets a kill with a pistol against a better-equipped player
• Economy: the system of buying weapons for both offensive and defensive sides
• Entry-frag: a player gets a kill while entering the bomb site on offense
• EPL (ESL Pro League): an international CS:GO league hosted by tournament organizer ESL
• Exec: a team clears out the site on offense with the use of grenades and coordinated pushes
• Exit-frag: a kill attained by a Counter-Terrorist on a Terrorist when they leave the bomb site after the bomb explodes, mainly done to hurt the enemy team’s economy
• EZ (easy): a term used to describe a situation or team as easy, commonly used in an unsportsmanlike manner

F

• Fake: an act of deception against an enemy player or team to increase their chances of winning
• Flash: a blinding flashbang grenade
• Flick: a player quickly aims towards a target and kills them, usually performed with an AWP sniper rifle
• Force (buy): a player or team buys weapons even when their money is low because a round win is essential to winning the game or gaining momentum
• FPL (FACEIT Pro League): a region-based CS:GO league where professional players practice in matchmade games on FACEIT’s third-party platform
• Frag (top/bottom): a player who is either performing the best or the worst in the kill column on their team
• Full save: a round where a team must not spend any money whatsoever because of their low funds

G

• Gamble stack: a defending team sends more players to a specific bomb site than what is normal, despite the chances that the attackers go to the other bomb site
• GG (good game): a gesture of sportsmanship typed into chat after a game
• Glass cannon: a player wields the AWP sniper rifle without kevlar
• GLHF (good luck have fun): a gesture of sportsmanship typed into chat before a competitive game starts
• Grief: an act that involves a player intentionally losing the game either to purposely lower their rank or to troll other players

H

• Hand cannon: a player wielding the Desert Eagle pistol
• HF (have fun): a gesture of sportsmanship similar to GLHF
• HS (%): a percentage of a player’s headshot kills compared to kills without headshots

I

• IGL (in-game leader): a player that creates strategies for their team before or during a round
• IBP (iBuyPower): a computer manufacturer who previously sponsored the infamous North American team that was banned from Valve Majors for match-fixing. That team consisted of AZK, Skadoodle, swag, DaZeD, and steel.

J

• Jiggle peek: a movement performed by quickly pressing ADAD close to a wall to bait out a shot from a player holding an angle of the map
• Juan Deag (One Deag): an enemy is killed in one shot, usually a headshot, by the Desert Eagle pistol
• Jump throw: a set grenade is thrown by aiming at a spot on the map and jumping

K

• KQLY: a player kills another while jumping. It was also made notorious by VAC-banned French star Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian on Dust II’s A bombsite because his infamous play was performed there
• Kobe: a kill attained by throwing an HE grenade, usually from a distance
• KZ: a game mode used in community servers to help players practice their movement

L

• Legged: an AWPer deals 87 damage to a person’s leg instead of another part of the body
• Lit: a term used with a number to call out how much damage a player has lost (e.g. Lit 95; 100 – 95 = 5 HP)
• Lurk: a player whose role is to silently traverse the map in a way that can catch the enemy team off guard at the right time

M

• MM (Matchmaking): an abbreviation for competitive Matchmaking on Valve servers
• Molly: an incendiary grenade or molotov cocktail

N

• NA (North America): an adjective for something that is sub-par; made popular by the “North American Counter-Strike” (NA CS) meme where NA players are generally considered worse than European players
• Nade stack: a group of players throws multiple HE grenades into an area
• Net graph: a setting displayed with the developer console command “net_graph 1” that shows your own ping, frames per second (FPS), tickrate, packet loss, and choke
• Ninja defuse: a player performs a bomb defusal successfully while another team is unaware
• NS (nice shot): a gesture of sportsmanship used to commend a teammate or enemy for killing another player with skilled aim
• NT (nice try): a phrase used to encourage a teammate after a situation that was lost
• N1 (nice one): a phrase, sometimes used sarcastically, to commend a player or team’s decision-making during a play

O

• One Tap: a kill that is attained by shooting a player once in the head, typically done with the AK-47 or Desert Eagle
• One Way: a well-positioned smoke that allows players to see through it while the enemy cannot

P

• Peek: a movement used to look into a choke point
• Play for picks: a tactic performed on either offense or defense that is meant for a team to play passive, safe, and loose, while also trying to kill the enemy team
• Playing off contact: a player hides/stays hidden and waits for their teammate to make first contact with the enemy team before finally making themselves known to the enemy team
• Pop-flash: an instance where a player throws a flashbang well enough to fully blind an enemy, preventing that enemy from reacting so that they look away in time
• Pre-aim: a player preemptively puts their crosshair at an angle before peeking, anticipating an enemy to be within their crosshair when they peek
• Pre-fire: a player predicts a player to be in a position and fires their weapon the instant they peek
• PUG (pick-up game): a matchmade game performed on a third-party server such as ESEA or FACEIT

Q

• Quasi-buy: a type of buy where a team has a variety of weapons, like a rifle, SMG, and/or pistol, and they can still buy the next round based on their money
• Queue: a player waits for a matchmade game to be found. The act of finding a matchmaking game with other players

R

• Rage hack: a player who begins cheating during the game in response to them losing the round
• Reset: a team wins a round after the enemy team won a round, effectively putting the enemy’s money in ruins by resetting their round loss bonus and forcing them to save money for the next round or two
• R-dub (RWS): a value on the ESEA third-party service that shows a player’s contribution to their team’s overall success
• Rotate: a player moves from one bomb site to another
• Rush: a player or team moves into a bomb site on offense immediately at the start of the round to catch the other team off guard

S

• Save: a player intentionally hides from the enemy team to preserve a weapon for the next round when they know the round is already lost
• Script: a line of code that goes directly into a player’s game configuration (auto exec). Also used to describe players who are aided by cheats (e.g. bunny hopping)
• Smurf: a skilled player uses an alternate account to play with others less skilled in lower ranks
• Spinbot: a cheater whose player model spins relentlessly so that they cannot be killed as easily
• Strafe: a linear movement done by holding a single key (e.g. W)
• Strat: a shortened term for strategy
• Support: a player whose role within a team is to hold bomb sites for the majority of a round and to throw assisting grenades, such as a flashbang, for better chances of winning
• Swag7: another term for the MAG-7 defensive shotgun

T

• T (Terrorist): the offensive team on a bomb defusal or hostage map
• Tagged: a word used to describe a player whose health is low (e.g. a SSG-08 sniper body shot), similar to “Lit”F
• Tilt: a player becomes angry at the outcome of a round or game and performs poorly because of it
• TK (team-kill): a player kills their teammate, usually by accident
• Throw: a player intentionally loses the round or game, similar to “Grief”
• TO (tournament organizer): a company that runs CS:GO tournaments (e.g. ESL or DreamHack)
• Toggle: a player shows signs of cheating inconsistently throughout a game like the flick of a switch

U

• Utility: an umbrella term used to describe how many grenades, kevlar/helmets, and/or defuse kits a team or player has

V

• VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat): the official program created by game creator Valve that detects and bans cheaters on Valve servers
• Volvo: a nickname for game developer Valve

W

• Walling: a player who can see their opponents through walls with the help of a cheat program
• Whiff: a player misses a shot
• Wide-peek: an instance where a player strafes around a corner/angle with a slightly greater distance than usual while closer to the wall
• WP (well played): a gesture of sportsmanship used to commend a teammate or enemy for a good play

X

• Xhair: a shortened term for crosshair
• X-ray: the ability to see through walls while watching a previous game demo; done by enabling the developer console command “spec_show_xray 1”

Y

• Yprac: a website that creates helpful practice maps for honing a specific skill (e.g. prefire practice)

Z

• Zeus’ed: a player is killed by the Zeus x27 taser