AE
Accident and emergency
Example
A trip to the AE for a little head injury
Related Slang
| ER | Emergency room |
| ED | Emergency department |
| 24/7 | Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week |
| ICU | Intensive care unit |
| ITU | Intensive treatment unit |
| CCU | Critical care unit |
| meds | Medications |
| HMO | Health maintenance organization |
| PPO | Preferred provider organization |
| PCP | Primary care physician |
Categories
Area of effect
AE is a popular gaming term that refers to spells, abilities, or attacks that impact all targets within a specific zone or radius rather than just a single enemy or target. You will likely encounter the term in gaming communities, particularly in multiplayer and role-playing games.
Players often use “AE” to describe powerful moves that can hit multiple enemies at once, making it helpful during fast-paced gameplay or strategy discussions. While “AOE” is the more common abbreviation, “AE” has become a popular variant, especially in casual conversations and online chats.
The term “Area of Effect” itself originated in tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, but its slang acronym took off with the rise of MMORPGs and MOBAs in the 2000s, such as World of Warcraft and League of Legends. Today, “AE” is widely recognized among gamers, streamers, and esports commentators as a quick way to talk about wide-ranging spells or abilities.
Example
Fireball AE
Related Slang
| AOE | Area of effect |
| AD | Attack damage |
| ADC | Attack damage carry |
| deeps | Damage per second |
| MDPS | Melee damage per second |
| Debuff | Weakening effect |
| WoW | World of Warcraft |
| LoL | League of Legends |
| MMORPG | Massively multiplayer online role-playing game |
| MOBA | Multiplayer online battle arena |
Baseball Slang Quiz: Can you bat 1.000?
AE is a commonly used slang abbreviation in the UK for the hospital department that handles urgent and life-threatening medical situations, such as serious injuries, sudden illnesses, or trauma. It is the equivalent of what’s called the emergency room (ER) in the United States.
When someone says they’re “going to AE,” it usually means they need immediate medical attention, whether for themselves or someone else. The term is especially popular in the UK, Ireland, and other Commonwealth countries, where AE is the standard label for emergency care.
The use of “AE” has existed since the 20th century, particularly in British healthcare conversations, but it gained wider use in casual speech, texting, and social media in the 2000s and 2010s. You’ll often hear it used by patients, medical professionals, and even TV characters in British dramas like Casualty or Doctor Who.