Technical Slang
The tech world is filled with acronyms and abbreviations. Whether you are discussing hardware, software, the Internet, or some other technology, there's a good chance technical acronyms will enter the conversation. The list below will help you understand more of what tech-savvy people are saying and may even help you build your own geek lexicon.
| Slang Term | Meaning | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| AI | Artificial intelligence | 542 |
| sfx | Special effects | 561 |
| dl | Download | 562 |
| TOS | Terms of service | 572 |
| CC | Carbon copy | 581 |
| ul | Upload | 582 |
| FPS | Frames per second | 582 |
| CG | Computer Graphics | 582 |
| SMS | Short Message Service | 583 |
| IT | Information Technology | 584 |
| C.AI | Character.AI | 584 |
| HTTP | HyperText Transfer Protocol | 587 |
| Techlexia | Difficulty using technology | 589 |
| FT | FaceTime | 589 |
| RTFM | Read the flippin' manual | 591 |
| 404 | Page not found | 591 |
| CSS | Cascading Style Sheet | 591 |
| tb | Terabyte | 591 |
| CGPT | ChatGPT | 591 |
| pw | Password | 593 |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator | 593 |
| WWW | World Wide Web | 593 |
| ROM | Emulator game | 594 |
| HTTPS | HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure | 594 |
| GIF | Graphics Interchange Format | 594 |
| HDD | Hard Disk Drive | 594 |
| Crapple | Apple | 594 |
| LOC | Lines of code | 594 |
| OTP | One-time password | 594 |
| M$ | Microsoft | 595 |
| BSoD | Blue screen of death | 595 |
| SERP | Search engine results page | 595 |
| EOF | End of file | 595 |
| URN | Uniform Resource Name | 595 |
| Cruft | Redundant software or hardware | 595 |
| Kill screen | A screen that prevents progress by a user | 595 |
| UX | User Experience | 596 |
| EOL | End of life | 596 |
| SEO | Search engine optimization | 596 |
| BYOD | Bring your own device | 596 |
| HDTV | High Definition TV | 596 |
| SSD | Solid State Drive | 596 |
| Techlexic | Unable to comprehend technology | 596 |
| EAT | Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness | 596 |
| CTA | Call-to-action | 596 |
| Social engineering | Tricking people into sharing information | 596 |
| RRoD | Red ring of death | 596 |
| Apple sheep | Blindly loyal Apple fans | 596 |
| Cheapfake | Authentic-looking media fabricated by affordable technology | 596 |
| MS | Microsoft | 597 |
| GIGO | Garbage in, garbage out | 597 |
| vfx | Visual effects | 597 |
| HTML | Hyper-Text Markup Language | 597 |
| CSOM | Client side object model | 597 |
| 5G | Fifth-generation cellular data technologies | 597 |
| BIM | Building Information Modeling | 597 |
| Hackintosh | A computer running an unauthorized version of macOS | 597 |
| Link rot | When web links go dead | 597 |
| MBA | MacBook Air | 597 |
| rx | Receive | 597 |
| JB | Jailbreak | 597 |
| FLEDGE | First Locally Executed Decisions over Groups Experiment | 597 |
| BBR | Broken beyond repair | 597 |
| MTK | MediaTek | 597 |
| AV | Audio/Video | 597 |
| FTP | File transfer protocol | 598 |
| MOTU | Mark of the Unicorn | 598 |
| Webpany | Web company | 598 |
| Pwn2Own | A hacking contest | 598 |
| MBP | MacBook Pro | 598 |
| iDevice | Apple device | 598 |
| gb | Gigabyte | 598 |
| ANR | Application Not Responding | 598 |
| 2FA | Two-factor authentication | 598 |
| Core Web Vitals | Metrics that measure the user experience of a website | 598 |
| FID | First Input Delay | 598 |
| CLS | Cumulative Layout Shift | 598 |
| Hackbook | A laptop running an unauthorized version of macOS | 598 |
| KS | Kill screen | 598 |
| SoD | Sleep of death | 598 |
| YLoD | Yellow Light of Death | 598 |
| Spear phishing | Targeted phishing attack | 598 |
| av | Antivirus | 598 |
| fn | Function | 598 |
| Slideware | Software that is announced but never released | 598 |
| JASE | Just another system error | 599 |
| OOTB | Out of the box | 599 |
| JIT | Just in time | 599 |
| u/l | Upload | 599 |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider | 599 |
| TTL | Time to live | 599 |
| MRU | Most recently used | 599 |
| LRU | Least Recently Used | 599 |
| Xfer | Transfer | 599 |
| SOTA | State of the art | 599 |
| comp | Computer | 599 |
| sysadmin | System administrator | 599 |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer | 599 |
| UI | User Interface | 599 |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface | 599 |
| Netiquette | Internet ettiquette | 599 |
| 4G | Fourth generation cellular data technologies | 599 |
| 3G | Third generation cellular data technologies | 599 |
| mbps | Megabits per second | 599 |
| URI | Uniform Resource Identifier | 599 |
| MDM | Mobile device management | 599 |
| VM | Virtual machine | 599 |
| Grok | Intuitively understand | 599 |
| ICS | Ice Cream Sandwich | 599 |
| IPTV | Internet protocol television | 599 |
| ADB | Android Debug Bridge | 599 |
| PR | Pull request | 599 |
| QCOM | Qualcomm | 599 |
| Bricked | Rendered unusable | 599 |
| TKL | Tenkeyless | 599 |
| PA | Page authority | 599 |
| emu | Emulator | 599 |
| Splinternet | A splintered internet | 599 |
| EEAT | Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness | 599 |
| INP | Interaction to Next Paint | 599 |
| Deepfake | An authentic-looking depiction of a person that is not real | 599 |
| MIPS | Millions of Instructions Per Second | 600 |
| OO | OpenOffice | 600 |
| PnP | Plug and Play | 600 |
| br | Blu-ray | 600 |
| BD | Blu-ray | 600 |
| fw | Freeware | 600 |
| LCD | Liquid Crystal Display | 600 |
| LED | Light-Emitting Diode | 600 |
| kb | Kilobyte | 600 |
| DBA | Doing business as | 600 |
| Voice sniffing | Eavesdropping by a voice assistant | 600 |
| Freemium | Free with optional purchases | 600 |
| ARF | Abuse Reporting Format | 600 |
| MIME | Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions | 600 |
| Centaur | A human aided by artificial intelligence | 600 |
| tx | Transmit | 600 |
| js | JavaScript | 600 |
| Adrod | Android | 600 |
| Spicy pillow | Swollen lithium-ion battery | 600 |
| gpw | Global Password | 601 |
| s/w | Software | 601 |
| DRM | Digital Rights Management | 601 |
| CRT | Cathode Ray Tube | 601 |
| mb | Megabyte | 601 |
| Winblows | Windows | 601 |
| DNS | Domain Name System | 601 |
| SAP | Systems, Applications, and Products | 601 |
| DKIM | DomainKeys Identified Mail | 601 |
| LCP | Largest Contentful Paint | 601 |
| DA | Domain authority | 601 |
| d/l | Download | 602 |
| FBL | Feedback loop | 602 |
| Lib | Library | 602 |
| TBR | To be released | 603 |
| MAU | Monthly active users | 603 |
| msft | Microsoft | 604 |
| Linsux | Linux | 605 |
| EOL | End of line | 600 |