70+ NFT Words And Phrases You Need To Know

May 5, 2022

NFT Jargon 101

If you’ve found yourself scrolling through NFT Twitter accounts to get acquainted with the NFT space, you may have noticed a whole bunch of lingo floating around that, well, probably floated right over your head. For newcomers it can seem confusing and overwhelming, but the jargon comes from the early kids that got the opportunity to dictate the direction of the space when NFTs were still unheard of. Now these words stand as a representation of a new culture that is breaking boundaries and reaching new heights everyday.

The journey of learning what an NFT is and getting acquainted into the space can be tricky, but we have been there too and are here to help. To save you from countless Google searches, below is AUS.NFT’s NFT jargon cheat sheet to guide you on your journey.

Let’s dive in.

GM – Acronym for good morning, but in NFT land it has a little more significance. As well as being used to greet people at the start of their day, it is also used as an insider's way of signifying that we are early in the space, and that the future is bright. Ultimately, it’s a way of building camaraderie and showing support for web3 culture.
GN – Acronym for good night. Same notion as above.
Ser – Sir.
Fren – Friend.
GMI/WAGMI – Acronym for Gonna make it / we’re all gonna make it. Confidence in success.
NGMI – Acronym for not gonna make it. Best used in a self-deprecating way about one’s own personal bad decisions.
Example: ‘Sold BTC at $10, NGMI.’
McDonald’s – The agreed collective backup plan if all else fails.
Example: 'In case we NGMI, McDonald’s is always there.'
AB — ArtBlocks. Considered to be one of the most important platforms for generative art in the world. ArtBlocks has 3 collections; 'Curated' (ABC), 'Playground' and 'Factory.'
Generative Art – Art that is produced using algorithmic generation. Projects using this method ideally provide real-time generation when the buyer ‘mints’ off the blockchain.
PFP – Acronym for profile picture. Used to describe a popular type of NFT, PFPs took NFTs mainstream. There are now thousands of PFP projects, with some of the most notable being projects like BAYC, CryptoPunks and Azuki.
Looks Rare – Used humorously and as a sarcastic statement. Rarity based on visual attributes often drives the value of an NFT. LooksRare is also an NFT trading platform.
FOMO – The fear of missing out. Often relates to people buying into NFT or crypto projects because of the fear of missing out - a trading tactic that is discouraged throughout all financial markets.
Example: 'I FOMOed into Lazy Lions and I am not sure why.'
ETH – Short for Ether, the native currency of Etherium.
Cope – The opposite of FOMO. Used humorously as a means of highlighting an error in judgement.
Example: 'I know Crypto Punks are up millions of percent, but I didn’t like the art years ago so stayed out.' 'LOL, okay, cope.'
1:1 Art – One of one art pieces. Often associated with ERC721 where the project art is unique and individual. This is in contrast to generative art collections and PFP projects.
Example: Galaxy Eggs.
Szn – Abbreviation for season. Szn relates to the market cycle. For example, when BTC is down, we could potentially be in NFT SZN. Szn may last 1 week to multiple weeks. It can also refer to a season of a specific NFT project that has multiple seasons.
Example: VeeFriends
IRL – Acronym for in real life, referring real life outside of the digital realm of the internet. According to some, it is best to not spend too much time there as IRL does not have sufficiently good JPGs.
Probably Nothing – Means 'probably something'. This is a sarcastic way of saying pay attention to this. It is generally always someone's opinion of a project, partnership or relationship between projects, developers and investors.
Example: 'Visa bought a punk. Probably nothing.'
Up Only – Means that the price will only go up. It was originally popularised by Cryptopathic for ethereum value this year, and is used as a way to show support for a project. Obviously for all investors it is everyone's desired outcome, however (unfortunately) is never the case. UpOnly is also an NFT podcast on Spotify. It is the opposite of down only.
Liquidity – Refers to having available funds to buy crypto and NFT’s. It is considered by some (in jest) as an impossible state of being as any fiat dollars or eth are quickly converted to illiquid NFT’s or Cryptocurrency.
Mint – The act of creating an NFT from the blockchain. Whoever mints off the blockchain is considered the first true owner of the NFT.
Right Click, Save As – Newcomers to the space often argue that NFTs are invaluable because they can simply be saved as an image and displayed by anyone. As true as this is, it does not devalue the original NFT that was copied, just as a fake Rolex does not devalue a real one. Thanks to the advent of blockchain technology, NFTs are actually less copyable as every NFT can be traced back to its true owner.
Example: 'I right click and save as, it's mine now.' ‘Not quite mate.’
Degen – Refers to investors who have a high risk tolerance.
This is the way – A way to commend socially positive behaviour, drawing from the Mandolarian Disney series.
Example: 'He never shilled his project.' 'This is the way'.
Raid – Refers to executing a flash promotional campaign on social media to drum up interest and engage potential investors. Generally not the best form of marketing for longevity.
Floor Price – The lowest available asking price for an NFT listed in the market. This applies to NFTs listed on OpenSea, Rarible, LooksRare or any other trading platform. Applies for a collection as a whole or for a subset of the collection.
Example: 'Deadfellaz just hit a 3ETH Floor'.
OG – Derived from original gangster, OG signals that a person was one of the original people in the NFT space. OG status is often falsely claimed by influencers in the space to emit authority and gain followings.
Alpha – Alpha is used within the NFT community to suggest exclusive knowledge or a form of market edge.
Example: 'There was serious NFT alpha dropped in the podcast today.'
Shilling – Shilling essentially refers to promoting a project. The shill, or person promoting, is usually incentivised by the project to assist with generating sales or raising floor prices.
JPGs – A way of referring to NFTs that simplifies their significance or complexity. Often used as an insult by people who don’t believe in them long term.
Example: ‘Are you still buying JPGs?
Delist – To remove your NFT for sale on the marketplace.
Discord – A messaging platform heavily used in Crypto and NFT communities. It is known to be all of a) useful, b) overwhelming, c) full of scammers, d) will eat all your CPU cycles, e) default set with annoying notification beeps. It is a complex machine but is a great source for alpha and investigating a project.
Roadmap – Roadmaps outline the future goals the NFT or Crypto project intends to achieve. Roadmaps should be broad but specific in direction, useful for conveying potential value and timeline to investors.
LFG – Let’s f***ing go. Used when you are excited about something.
TIP: Best used with rocket and fire emojis.
Few – Few is short for 'few understand'. Similar to 'probably nothing', it is polite reference to FOMO.
Example: Visa bought a punk. Few.'
Devs – Refers to developers.
Gas or Gas Wars – Gas is simply the fee incurred when using the Etherium blockchain. A gas war is an expensive and chaotic mess that occurs on the Ethereum network when it is receiving a lot of traffic, where many minters try to mint the same project at once, driving up gas prices for that period of time. It is commonly associated with anxiety, disdain and sometimes, even regret.
Rekt – Refers to getting wrecked, which in NFT and crypto land means experiencing a severe financial loss on an asset.
Ded – Ded is short for dead (the bad kind).
Example: 'I sold my CryptoPunk for 5ETH. Ded.'
Whale – A whale is an investor who holds a substantial amount of one of more cryptocurrencies of NFTs. These people have the ability to influence the floor prices and are often watched to see where the big moves are being made.
Rug or Rug Pull – The act of a project team or individual draining all the liquidity of a project. Essentially, it refers to when the founders of a project drop the project and leave with all the profits. It is unfortunately a common occurrence in the space due to the lack of transparency with knowing who the founders are. See doxxed.
Example: I’m not minting Balloonsville, looks like a rug.’
Doxxed – Doxxing is important and something we consider a must when looking into a project. Essentially, if a team is doxxed it means that the project members have identified who they are by providing full names, past experiences, links to their social media channels etc. It gives confidence that they are committed to their project and will be significantly less likely to rug.
Example: ‘Dronies looks like a great project, super doxxed team.’
IYKYK – If you know, you know. Similar to 'few', a polite form of FOMO in many but not all usages.
Example: 'Visa bought a punk. IYKYK.'
Derivative – Derivatives are simply projects that borrow from other (more successful) projects because they want to profit from the hype and success the original has generated. These generally lose interest as quickly as they were made, however there have been some derivatives that cross chains and have seen some success.
Example of a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) derivative that saw minimal success: Wicked Ape Bone Club.
Example of a BAYC derivative that has seen decent success: Degenerative Ape Academy.
Noob/Pleb – Newbie and Plebian. The opposite of an OG.
Seems legit – 'Seems legitimate' in other words, the project looks serious and has potentially good prospects. Caution, can also be used sarcastically.
Meatspace – Another term for 'IRL'. The non-metaverse reality where laws of physics and biology apply.
Example: 'Meatspace issues today. Raining outside. No umbrella.'
Buying on secondary – When you fail to mint a project and have to buy on a marketplace such as OpenSea.
Wen Moon – Comes from Discord and Twitter where eager investors bug the project team and community to give an indication of when the price of their NFT will ascend to the moon (not recommended).
Example: ‘'Wen moon, ser?'
Moon – for an asset to become ridiculously valuable.
Valhalla – The glorious utopia where those share their NFT success with dead Vikings in the great halls.
DYOR – Acronym for do your own research. The person telling you this is reflecting responsibility and advising you to do your own research despite the alpha they probably just gave you.
Example: 'I heard Visa just bought a punk, but DYOR.’
Aped In – This is a Twitter term where one takes on a large position relative to one’s own portfolio size.
Example: 'I aped in on a DeGods, but DYOR.'
NFA – Acronym for not financial advice.
Web3 – Not necessarily slang but important to have a basic understanding of. Web 3 refers to the next iteration of the internet, that will prioritise user ownership and decentralisation.
Snipe – Refers to buying an NFT for a price lower than market value, based on other NFTs with similar rarity. People often use tools to supplement this style of investing such as raritysniper.com.
Example: ‘I Just sniped a Cool Cat.’
DAO – Acronym for decentralised autonomous organisation and refers to a structure of governance created within web 3 governance. At its essence, it is a democratic means of voting on project specific decisions. These are accessible to investors via the smart contract mechanic in their NFTs.
HODL – Acronym for hold on for dear life. Popularised during the early days of cryptocurrency, HODL signifies the attitude to never sell, no matter how much FUD and uncertainty there is in the market - because of the belief that despite current doubt, the price will moon one day.
FUD – Acronym for fear, uncertainty and doubt. Essentially refers to negative news or attitudes towards the crypto, NFT and web3 space.
Fiat – Fiat refers to fiat currency, meaning any currency that doesn’t exist in the cryptocurrency space such as the AUD and USD.
Paper Hands – An investor that doesn’t buy a project because they believe in or care about it long term, but would rather flip for short term profits.
Flipping – Refers to buying NFTs for a low price and selling them for a higher price for quick profits. Proceed with caution.
Diamond Hands – An investor who holds onto an asset no matter what.
Sweep the Floor – A term often used by admins or token holders to encourage floor prices of their project to increase. By ‘sweeping the floor’ they’re encouraging other holders to buy the lowest priced NFTs to inadvertently increase the floor price, therefore making the project seem more valuable.
Staking – Staking is a mechanism used by cryptocurrencies and now NFTs to encourage people to hold their tokens by offering interest for locking their tokens into a term account for a certain period of time. Think of this as like a term deposit from your bank.
DeFi – Stands for decentralised finance, meaning that unlike regular or centralised finance (CeFi), no one but you has access to it.
Airdrop – Refers to sending free NFT or cryptocurrency. This is often done as a form of marketing or providing value for holding a specific NFT.
P2E – Play to earn crypto games that reward players for participation.
Reveal – When the NFT will change from a placeholder image to the actual image of the NFT. This generally happens at mint, but can also take place before or after.
Bags – Your NFT holdings.
Allow List (Formerly White List) – Essentially a waitlist to purchase an NFT project. Initially used as a way of granting true fans a way of minting an NFT without having to compete with an open market, they are now a core marketing tool used to promote NFT projects.
Anon – That’s you. Reading this article. Anonymous.