In our handy guide on Fortnite terminology, we give you all the key phrases and short hands you will ever need. If you’re gaming, watching esports or betting on Fortnite, never be stumped by your teammates or opponents ever again.
0-9
1 by 1 – A small and thin fort with singular walls, usually built in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
200 Pump – Eliminating an enemy with a 200 damage dealing shotgun can instantly eliminate enemies.
90s – Mastered by the best builders, 90s is a special building technique which involves quickly throwing down two walls, a floor & ramp while moving.
A
ADS – most weapons in Fortnite allow players to zoom in and aim-down-sights while sacrificing movement.
Alien – should sky platforms be part of the map, these areas can be referred to as ‘Alien’.
B
Bait – spread across a map, it’s important not to get sucked into unnecessary or unfavourable gunfights. As a team, you can also bait enemies into your trap for easy kills.
Bandies – “quick, drop me some bandies” is a common phrase when teaming in Fortnite, the universal term for all types of bandages which are essential for regenerating player health.
Battle Bus – an iconic part to the start of every Fortnite match, all players parachute in from the flying vehicle to a location of their choice on the map in their customized parachute.
Bloom – any shots fired fall within your crosshairs, the randomness is referred to as bloom. Bloom is reduced by not moving and crawling.
Blue – a term of damaging a player’s shield, ‘blue’ refers to the blue colour of the damage tag.
Big pot – it may take a minute to chug, Big pot is slang for the Rare Shield Potion which grants 50 shields when consumed.
Bolt – a common Fortnite term to describe bolt-action sniper rifles.
Bot – a cheap insult to highlight how poor a player is playing, similar to a robot.
Box – simple geometry here, to box in Fortnite words means to build a box.
Box fight – if everyone starts building boxes like crazy, a box fight breaks out and winning involves a lot of strategy and timing.
Broken – the term broken either refers to the breaking of shields or the state of an item in the game. A broken item is an unbalanced one.
Bubble – an alternative name for the safe zone, the bubble in Fortnite is where it’s safe to play within the confines of the storm.
Build battle – at the highest level, building is a crucial mechanic in Fortnite. Besides battling with weapons and utility, building quicker and more aggressively than your opponent improves your chance of winning the fight.
Bunny hop – making yourself a difficult target, bunny hopping is a movement mechanic which lets players bounce around.
C
Camper (+/- Bush) – a common term in any esport, campers sit around without moving much, waiting for the game to come to them. In Fortnite, the ability to turn into a bush contributes to the unique concept of ‘bush campers’.
Carry – the dream teammate, a carry is player who simply ensures that the win is secured, overperforming compared to his teammates.
Choke – missing a crucial shotgun pump or building materials haphazardly, a costly mistake is known as a choke.
Claw – a special way of holding the controller, the claw grip allows for quicker gameplay and snappier moves.
Clutch – defying all the odds, examples of clutches include winning unfavourable situations such as a 3v1.
Cracked – one of the only Fortnite terms with a dual meaning. Specifically, a cracked player is one who is incredibly skilled or a player with broken shields (cracking noise).
D
Desert Eagle – a common term in Counter-Strike, it’s used to describe the Hand Cannon in Fortnite.
Dog House – a number of houses across multiple areas, such as Retail Row and Pleasant Park have dog houses, these are generally referred to accordingly.
Double pump – an ancient technique which involved quickly swapping between two shotguns, this one deadly move is no longer possible in Fortnite.
Downed/Knocked – like any other battle royale title, team player uses the mechanic of downing. A knocked down player can be revived by teammates unless enough time expires or enemies finish the job.
Dub – nothing more satisfying than a win, which in Fortnite is referred to as a dub.
E
Editing – walls and ramps can be changed and integrated with windows and other features.
Emotes – an iconic part of Fortnite, emotes lets players dance on the graves of their opponents.
Engage/Disengage – taking a fight or retreating from a gunfight can be referred to as engaging or disengaging.
F
Full send – the storm is encroaching and there is nowhere to hide – full sending it involves going in aggressive.
G
Ghost peeking – a former broken move which allowed players to look over walls and land cheeky shots, ghost peeking is no longer possible.
H
Half-pot – refers to half-potiobs which replenish 50% of the player shield.
Harry Pottered – is a rather amusing bit of Fortnite slang, Harry Pottering involves hiding under the stairs.
Heal-off – an in-game situation which rarely takes place at the highest level, a heal-off has the final two players completely stuck in the storm, relying on healing to last longer than the other.
Heavy – community term of the Heavy Shotgun, the most powerful shotguns in the game.
High Ground – an element to every fight, being higher than your opponent is always an advantage, whether it’s on a hill or your built structure.
Hot-drop – Tilted Towers was probably the most famous hot-drop in all of Fortnite. A hot-drop is a starting location on the map which is notorious for attracting a lot of players due to rare loot, resulting in a tonne of fights.
Hutwatch – a community-inspired Fortnite term, Hutwatch refers to huts in Misty Meadows due to a YouTuber who used to keep track of these huts.
L
Lasered – barely in the sights of an opponent, you’ve been eliminated immediately thanks to very precise long-range shots – you’ve been lasered.
LeBron’s House – the community has deemed the mansion of Retail Row to be a place where the NBA’s Lebron James would live.
Lit – a step above being tagged, a lit opponent is one that is very weak and close to being knocked down.
Low-ground warrior – if you’re not a fan of building, staying on the ground could mean that you’re a low-ground warrior.
M
Mats – short for ‘materials’, players tend to spend a whole game harvesting materials to fuel their build battles at the end.
Meds – bandages aren’t the only things which can heal you in Fortnite, the general term of ‘meds’ can be used to refer to any healing ability in Fortnite words.
Meta – if something is meta, it means that it’s currently the most popular way of playing the game. For example, certain weapons can be meta at times.
Minis – scattered around the map are small shield potions which only grant 25 shields. Considering their size, they’re known as minis.
N
No scope – one of the more outrageous players in Fortnite terms, a no scope involves landing a sniper shot without aiming down sights.
O
OG – in Fortnite, the term OG (which everyone knows means “original gangster”) is used moreso to refer to old skins. Older, or OG skins tend to be more rare and valuable.
One-pump – describing a player as “one-pump’ means that health is so low that one single shot from a shotgun will down/eliminate.
P
Padding – the act of using a launchpad is known as padding in Fortnite terms.
Point of interest/POI – an alternative to hot-drop, a POI is a popular part of the map.
Popping shields – as an alternative to cracking, popping shields is used to describe depleting an enemies shields.
Ping – pointing out a part of the map to your team is pinging in Fortnite. Can also refer to poor internet leading to unfavourable gunfights.
Pyramid – once you’ve built your tower, the roof piece is referred to as the pyramid. One of the best gunfights you can take is by barely peeking over a pyramid.
Q
Quickscope – a flashy move, a quickscope involves quickly scoping a sniper rifle and earning the kill in quick succession.
R
Reboot card/van – another concept exclusive to team play, an eliminated teammate can be revived by picking up their reboot card and sprinting to the reboot van and bringing them back at a cost.
Refresh – picking up loot from fallen enemies to restock your own supplies.
RNG – like any other battle royale, RNG is a term used to address the randomness of the game at times, short for ‘Random Number Generator’.
Rocket ride – a classic stunt, players can jump on RPG rockets to fly towards enemies in epic fashion.
S
Shambles – if you’re in the late game and have weak weapons and not much materials, you’re in shambles.
Shrooms – mushrooms are known as shrooms, minor items which help regenerate shield.
Siphon – gameplay mechanic, rarely used, which lets players gain health and shield from fallen enemies.
Slip (Stream) – as a new and fast way to travel around, slip streams can be referred to as slips.
SPAS – a community term for the Epic and Legendary Pump Shotgun.
Spawn island – cool off before your game in Spawn island, the lobby where everyone waits for the battle bus to take off.
Surge – don’t sit around hiding from fights or the surge might get you. The storm surge in certain matches damages players who have done the least damage.
Storm – Fortnite’s take on the closing circle, the Storm is largest at the beginning of the game and shrinks as the game unfolds. Getting caught in the storm is a death sentence and forces players to move to the next zone.
Storm flip – projectile which lets you throw a little storm at enemies or can be used to survive in the storm.
Storm troopers – players who are stuck in the storm and survive in it are known as storm troopers,.
Sweat – in a sweaty lobby against sweaty players, you’re in for a lot of building and lasering.
T
Tac – short for Tactical Shotgun or Tactical Assault Rifle.
Tagged – if you’ve been tagged you’ve been hit by the opponent, weakened in the process in Fortnite lingo.
Tarping – a defensive move used in competitive play to protect your teammates in a tunnel. A tarper is the player on the team dedicated to building.
Third-party – after a hard-fought battle between two sides, a third team swinging in and quickly eliminating the surviving team is third-partying. At the highest level, it’s all about choosing your fights.
Thirst – a cutthroat approach in teamplay, thirst refers to when players immediately kill a downed opponent, giving them no chance of being picked up by teammates.
Tubes – borrowing from Call of Duty, Tubes is a Fortnite term to describe grenade launchers.
Turtling – hiding away and playing defensively is known as turtling in Fortnite terms.
U
Ult/Ultimate – As a cornerstone of VALORANT, Ultimate abilities are referred to as ‘Ults’ for short, one of the simpler VALORANT terms.
V
Vaulted – the rotation of available skins and more have certain items being removed, and hence, vaulted.
Viking – unnamed mountain located in between Snobby Shores and Frosty Flights, very high up in the sky.
W
Weapon Rarity – it’s important to note that rarity of weapons and items in Fortnite is determined by colours. Specifically, white is common, green is uncommon, blue is rare, purple is epic and gold is legendary.
Western – the desert and orange area of the map is typically referred to as Western because of cliches.
Z
Zone – the safe area to play in, players need to stay in the zone and avoid getting caught in the storm. At one point at the end, the zone disappears altogether due to the storm eye closing in.
Explore our other glossaries
Every esport has its own particular glossary of terminology. To learn about terms of other esports and gaming titles, beyond Fortnite terminology, be sure to check out our other glossaries covering a wide range of topics in gaming and esports.
