The Reddit Glossary: A Comprehensive List of Terms

Are you new to Reddit and wondering why people are using terms and abbreviations you’ve never heard of before?

Reddit is a massive online community with its unique culture and language, which can be confusing for new users.

To make the most of your Reddit experience, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the basic Reddit glossary and terms.

In this article, we will guide you through everything you need to know to navigate Reddit like a pro.

The Reddit Glossary: Complete List of Common Terms

Alt – This refers to an alternative user account, used by some to maintain anonymity or for various other reasons.

AMA – “Ask Me Anything” is a popular subreddit in which users answer questions from other Redditors. It is also used more generally to indicate a Q&A session.

AMAA – “Ask Me Almost Anything” is a similar subreddit, but with limitations on the types of questions that can be asked.

At a [0-10] – This sliding scale, used primarily in subreddits related to marijuana such as /r/trees, measures the level of “highness” from 0, indicating sobriety, to 10, representing an extreme state of intoxication.

Benned – A term coined by moderators of the subreddit SRS (Shit Reddit Says) that is a twisted version of “banned”.

Brave or So Brave – This expression is often used sarcastically to dismiss a comment or patronize someone for agreeing with a popular opinion.

Brony – A male fan of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Cakeday – The anniversary of the day a user joined Reddit. It is comparable to a birthday and is indicated by a small icon next to the username.

Circlejerk – A group of individuals with similar beliefs who validate each other and suppress opposing opinions. Often used derogatorily to describe a group or subreddit that is exclusive and resistant to different ideas.

Crosspost – Indicates that a post has been shared on multiple subreddits.

Ctrl-F – A reference to the keyboard shortcut used to search for specific text within a thread.

DAE – “Does Anyone Else” is both a subreddit and a phrase used to appeal to a common feeling, situation, or dilemma.

Defaults – The twenty subreddits that appear on the Front Page to users who are not logged in. These subreddits are chosen based on their high activity levels and are automatically subscribed to by new users.

EDIT – Indicates that a comment has been edited since its original posting. Often followed by additional text, responses to other comments, or explanations of why the comment was edited.

ELI5 – “Explain Like I’m 5” is a subreddit and a phrase used to request a simplified explanation of a topic.

Ent – This term, popular in the /r/trees subreddit, refers to a pot smoker. It originated from the walking trees in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” series, which are sometimes associated with smoking marijuana.

ETA – “Edited to Add” is a phrase used to indicate that additional information has been added to a comment or post.

F7U12 – Shorthand for FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU, this term usually refers to the subreddit focused on rage comics.

Fap – A slang term meaning to masturbate.

Flair: The images or text that appear next to usernames in certain subreddits. Flair is usually customizable, and it often serves as a way for users to identify themselves or express their opinions on a particular topic.

[FIXED]: A remix of an original post, often with the effort of making the post more relevant or closer to the truth. This term is often used to indicate that the original post had inaccuracies or misinformation, and the new post seeks to correct it.

Forever alone: A term used to describe someone who has no significant other (often abbreviated as SO) and (often) little-to-no social skills, and perhaps also simply unattractive. This term is often associated with a meme-face and is sometimes used to express a feeling of loneliness or isolation.

FTA: From The Article. This term is often used when quoting or referencing an article on Reddit.

FTFY: Fixed That For You. This term is used to indicate a small edit of a previous comment that changes the meaning in a (sometimes) fundamental and (almost always) humorous way.

GW: Gone Wild.

Hivemind: A collective term usually referring to the Reddit community as a whole. This term is often used to describe the phenomenon of groupthink or the tendency for Reddit users to upvote or downvote certain posts or comments based on popular opinion rather than their own independent evaluation.

IAMA: I Am A. This is also a subreddit in which famous or uncommon people get interviewed by the Reddit community. It has featured guests like President Obama, Snoop Dogg, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Scientists of the Mars Curiosity Rover Mission, and many more.

IMO: In My Opinion. This term is used to indicate that the following statement is the opinion of the author.

IMHO: In My Humble (Honest) Opinion. This term is similar to IMO but also adds an element of humility or honesty to the statement.

IIRC: If I Recall Correctly. This term is used to indicate that the following statement may not be 100% accurate or complete, as it is based on the author’s memory of a past event.

ITT: In This Thread. This term is used to indicate that the following statement is relevant to the current discussion thread.

Karma: The point system Reddit uses. If people upvote one of your posts, you get link-karma, and if they upvote one of your comments, you get comment-karma. The opposite is true when they downvote. Self-posts (submissions in “text” mode) don’t bring you karma. Karma is practically completely useless, but it can remove a rate-timer for posts in subreddits in which you have a specific amount of karma, and for wiki pages if the mods set a subreddit-karma limit.

Karmawhore: A pejorative term for someone who reposts links (especially if they do it often) or posts links that pander to Reddit hivemind voting patterns in an effort to gain internet points. This term may also refer to a user who comments extremely frequently or in a pandering way for internet points. There is also the website karmawhores.net, which provides karma statistics.

Meta-subs or meta-reddits: Subreddits oriented around talking about Reddit itself. Subreddit content comes primarily (or exclusively) from www.reddit.com. Some examples include /r/MetaHub and /r/TheoryOfReddit.

MIC: More In Comments. This acronym is often used when a post title provides some information, but the details can be found in the comments section.

Mod: Short for moderator, a person who has the power to remove comments and posts, among other things, in a subreddit.

MRA: Stands for Men’s Rights Activist, a member of a social movement that is focused on addressing discrimination against men in areas such as reproductive rights, divorce settlements, domestic violence laws, and sexual harassment laws.

Neckbeard: A derogatory term used to describe the prototypical Reddit user. The term comes from the perceived poor hygiene of redditors and failure to shave the facial hair off of their necks for weeks and months at a time. Generally, someone is called a neckbeard when they (hypocritically) judge other people for their faults but do not see any faults of their own.

Ninjaedit: Refers to the asterisk that indicates edited comments. If a comment is edited quickly enough after submission, the asterisk will not appear, removing any evidence that an edit ever happened, thus “ninjaedit”. This term may also refer to comments that provide no indication that they were edited, despite the presence of an asterisk. These comments are looked down upon because they can make threads confusing to read.

Novelty account: An account usually used for humorous purposes, often repeating variations on a joke related to the name. For example, user “Shittywatercolor” paints watercolors of various topics that arise in threads.

NSFW: Not Safe For Work. This is usually a warning of a link to a sexual image (OnlyFans, etc) or video or gory content. People can also tag their posts to be NSFW by clicking “nsfw->yes” below the posted link.

NSFL: Not Safe For Life. This is usually a warning of a link to extreme gore.

OP: Short for original poster. This refers to the person who made the submission that is now being commented upon.

Orangered: The color of the envelope icon when you have an unread reply or message. To have an orangered is to have unread messages waiting.

Power user: A user with a high karma score whose username is recognizable to a large group of people on Reddit. Often very frequent posters and may be karmawhores.

Pun thread: A series of comments that make puns (often of lesser and lesser quality) that are related to a theme of the original post.

Reddit switcharoo: An old comedy method and trope on Reddit, in which users will often facetiously put forward an interpretation of the original post that is coherent but not intended. For example, someone posts a picture of a dog licking a person’s face with the caption “I wasn’t expecting that”. The “switcharoo” might be someone commenting that “They also weren’t expecting the human to react that way.”

Reddiquette – Refers to the rules of Reddit, the rules of a specific subreddit, or less commonly to unwritten guidelines of conduct followed by typical Redditors.

Relevant username – Used when a comment has a coincidental relation to the name of the account that posted it.

Repost – Posting an image or link that has already appeared on Reddit (usually the same subreddit) for a second (or more) time in an attempt to gain internet points. Usually comes up when the previous post was recent and well-received. The word “repost” is generally used to denote disapproval, and often sets off a debate on the validity of reposting in the context of user-voting (i.e., if reposted content is upvoted then people want to see it).

RES – “Reddit Enhancement Suite” – A browser addon dedicated to improve the Reddit experience. Only works with the old Reddit version.

RTFA – Read the fucking article.

Shadow-ban – A site-wide ban on a user that the user is not notified of. This is usually the result of breaking Reddit’s rules. The user is unaware of the ban because their posts will still show up for them, but nobody else will see the user’s activity. You can see if a person is shadowbanned if their overview page is an error page. People thinking they’re falsely shadowbanned may read this.

Shitpost – A post that lacks any real value. Usually ascribed to circlejerk posts or posts that are overly stupid, boring, sensationalistic, or lame.

Sockpuppet – Reddit specific definition: An alternate account (see “alt”) used by a Redditor to speak in a voice other than that of the creator’s recognized user name. Sockpuppets differ from ordinary alts in that they may be used to express controversial or negative opinions, rant, or troll. In some cases, a sockpuppet may be shared amongst a group of users, for such purposes as moderation, vote brigading, or trolling. All alts are not sockpuppets, but all sockpuppets are alts. A sockpuppet is basically a straw man.

Spamfilter – The system that filters out posts likely to be spam in subreddits. Mods can choose to approve them, if not they won’t show up.

SJW – Social Justice Warrior. Almost always an insult. What it refers to exactly ranges from “crazy person who takes everything as a personal insult and uses the rhetoric of social justice to bully people” to “person whose politics are left of mine.”

SRD – Subreddit drama. Usually refers to the subreddit, /r/subredditdrama, but can also (very rarely) refer to the actual drama itself.

SRS – Shit Reddit Says – A meta-sub centered around social justice issues and making fun of the behavior of Reddit users. Controversial opinions and moderation policies make SRS a hot spot for drama.

Sub – An individual subreddit.

THIS – Indicates you agree with or want to draw attention to a comment. Often getting downvoted.

TIL – Today, I learned…

TL;DR – Too Long; Didn’t Read – After a wall of text, a commenter may include a shorter description of what they wrote about, sometimes humorously. Also sometimes inserted by another commentator to explain an article or previous comment.

Trees – Refers to marijuana in general, and is also the name of a subreddit dedicated to discussions and posts related to marijuana culture, including strains, consumption methods, and more. The subreddit’s users often refer to themselves as “ents,” a reference to the tree-like creatures in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” series.

Whoooosh – A humorous way to indicate that a joke or reference has gone over someone’s head. It is often used as a comment reply to a person who has missed the point of a joke or reference, and can also be accompanied by an image or gif of something flying over someone’s head.

WIP – An acronym that stands for “work in progress.” It is often used in posts or comments to indicate that something is not yet complete or is still being worked on.

X-post – A term used to indicate that a post or link has been cross-posted to multiple subreddits. This is often done to share content with a wider audience or to seek out specific feedback or discussion from different communities. X-post is short for “cross-post.”

In summary, new Reddit users need to know the basic Reddit glossary and terms to get the most out of the site. Learning these terms will help you navigate the site effectively, participate in discussions, and connect with other users. By familiarizing yourself with the terms in this article, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a Reddit pro.