History
Leet originated withinOrthography
One of the hallmarks of leet is its unique approach to 3
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The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
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Morphology
Text rendered in leet is often characterized by distinctive, recurring forms.
;''-xor'' suffix
:The meaning of this suffix is parallel with the English ''-er'' and ''-or'' suffixes (seen in ''hacker'' and ''lesser'') in that it derives agent nouns from a verb stem (linguistics), stem. It is realized in two different forms: ''-xor'' and ''-zor'', and , respectively. For example, the first may be seen in the word ''hax(x)or'' (''H4x0r'' in leet) and the second in ''pwnzor'' . Additionally, this nominalization
In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation is the use of a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a noun, or as the head of a noun phrase. This change in functional category can occur through morphological tr ...
may also be inflected
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...
with all of the suffixes of regular English verbs. The letter 'o' is often replaced with the numeral 0.
;''-age'' suffix
:Derivation of a noun from a verb stem is possible by attaching ''-age'' to the base form of any verb. Attested derivations are ''pwnage'', ''skillage'', and ''speakage''. However, leet provides exceptions; the word ''leetage'' is acceptable, referring to actively being ''leet''.Blashki & Nichol, 79. These nouns are often used with a form of "to be" rather than "to have," e.g., "that was pwnage" rather than "he has pwnage". Either is a more emphatic way of expressing the simpler "he pwns," but the former implies that the person is ''embodying'' the trait rather than merely possessing it.
;''-ness'' suffix
:Derivation of a noun from an adjective stem is done by attaching ''-ness'' to any adjective. This is entirely the same as the English form, except it is used much more often in Leet. Nouns such as ''lulzness'' and ''leetness'' are derivations using this suffix.
;Words ending in ''-ed''
:When forming a past participle ending in ''-ed'', the Leet user may replace the ''-e'' with an apostrophe, as was common in poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
of previous centuries, (e.g. "pwned" becomes "pwn'd"). Sometimes, the apostrophe is removed as well (e.g. "pwned" becomes "pwnd"). The word ending may also be substituted by ''-t'' (e.g. ''pwned'' becomes ''pwnt'').LeBlanc, 33.
;Use of the ''-&'' suffix
:Words ending in ''-and'', ''-anned'', ''-ant'', or a similar sound can sometimes be spelled with an ampersand
The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram , representing the conjunction "and". It originated as a ligature of the letters ''et''—Latin for "and".
Etymology
Traditionally in English, when spelling aloud, any letter that ...
(''&'') to express the ending sound (e.g. "This is the s&box", "I'm sorry, you've been b&", "&hill/&farm"). It is most commonly used with the word ''banned''. An alternate form of "B&" is "B7", as the ampersand is with the "7" key on the standard US keyboard. It is often seen in the abbreviation "IBB7" (in before banned), which indicates that the poster believes that a previous poster will soon be banned from the site, channel, or board on which they are posting.
Grammar
Leet can be pronounced as a single syllable, , rhyming with ''eat,'' by way of apheresis of the initial vowel of "elite". It may also be pronounced as two syllables, . Like hacker slang, leet enjoys a looser grammar than standard English. The loose grammar, just like loose spelling, encodes some level of emphasis, ironic or otherwise. A reader must rely more on intuitive parsing
Parsing, syntax analysis, or syntactic analysis is the process of analyzing a string of symbols, either in natural language, computer languages or data structures, conforming to the rules of a formal grammar. The term ''parsing'' comes from Lati ...
of leet to determine the meaning of a sentence rather than the actual sentence structure. In particular, speakers of leet are fond of verbing
In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation or null derivation, is a kind of word formation involving the creation of a word (of a new word class) from an existing word (of a different word class) without any change in form, which is ...
nouns, turning verbs into nouns (and back again) as forms of emphasis, e.g. "Austin rocks" is weaker than "Austin roxxorz" (note spelling), which is weaker than "Au5t1N is t3h r0xx0rz" (note grammar), which is weaker than something like "0MFG D00D /\Ü571N 15 T3H l_l83Я 1337 Я0XX0ЯZ" ( OMG, dude, Austin is the über
''Über'' (, sometimes written ''uber'' in English-language publications) is a German language word meaning "over", "above" or "across". It is an etymological twin with German ''ober'', and is a cognate (through Proto-Germanic) with English ' ...
-elite rocks-er!). In essence, all of these mean "Austin rocks," not necessarily the other options. Added words and misspellings add to the speaker's enjoyment. Leet, like hacker slang, employs analogy in construction of new words. For example, if ''haxored'' is the past tense of the verb "to hack" (hack → haxor → haxored), then ''winzored'' would be easily understood to be the past tense conjugation of "to win," even if the reader had not seen that particular word before.
Leet has its own colloquialisms, many of which originated as jokes based on common typing errors, habits of new computer users, or knowledge of cyberculture and history.Blashki & Nichol, 81. Leet is not solely based upon one language or character set. Greek, Russian, and other languages have leet forms, and leet in one language may use characters from another where they are available. As such, while it may be referred to as a "cipher
In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...
", a "dialect", or a "language", leet does not fit squarely into any of these categories. The term ''leet'' itself is often written ''31337'', or ''1337'', and many other variations. After the meaning of these became widely familiar, ''10100111001'' came to be used in its place, because it is the binary
Binary may refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics
* Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1)
* Binary function, a function that takes two arguments
* Binary operation, a mathematical operation that t ...
form of ''1337'' decimal, making it more of a puzzle to interpret. An increasingly common characteristic of leet is the changing of grammatical usage so as to be deliberately incorrect. The widespread popularity of deliberate misspelling is similar to the cult following of the " All your base are belong to us" phrase. Indeed, the online and computer communities have been international from their inception, so spellings and phrases typical of non-native speakers are quite common.
Vocabulary
Many words originally derived from leet have now become part of modern Internet slang
Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" m ...
, such as "pwned
Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection (mathematics), reflec ...
". The original driving forces of new vocabulary in leet were common misspellings and typing errors such as "teh
''Teh'' is an Internet slang neologism most frequently used as an English article (grammar), article, based on a common typographical error of "''the".'' ''Teh'' has subsequently developed grammatical usages distinct from ''the''. It is not commo ...
" (generally considered lolspeak), and intentional misspellings,Blashki & Nichol, 83. especially the "z" at the end of words ("skillz"). Another prominent example of a surviving leet expression is ''w00t
The term w00t (spelled with double-zero, "00"), or woot, is a slang interjection used to express happiness or excitement, usually used in online conversation. The expression is most popular on forums, Usenet posts, multiplayer computer games (e ...
'', an exclamation of joy. w00t is sometimes used as a backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
for "We owned the other team."
New words (or corruptions thereof) may arise from a need to make one's username unique. As any given Internet service reaches more people, the number of names available to a given user is drastically reduced. While many users may wish to have the username "CatLover," for example, in many cases it is only possible for one user to have the moniker. As such, degradations of the name may evolve, such as "C@7L0vr." As the leet cipher is highly dynamic, there is a wider possibility for multiple users to share the "same" name, through combinations of spelling and transliterations.
Additionally, ''leet''—the word itself—can be found in the screen-names and gamertags
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An ...
of many Internet and video games. Use of the term in such a manner announces a high level of skill, though such an announcement may be seen as baseless hubris
Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
.Computer Hope Dictionary.
Terminology and common misspellings
''Warez
Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural ...
'' (nominally ) is a plural shortening of "software", typically referring to cracked and redistributed software. ''Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...
'' refers to the hacking of telephone systems and other non-Internet equipment. ''Teh
''Teh'' is an Internet slang neologism most frequently used as an English article (grammar), article, based on a common typographical error of "''the".'' ''Teh'' has subsequently developed grammatical usages distinct from ''the''. It is not commo ...
'' originated as a typographical error of "the", and is sometimes spelled ''t3h''.LeBlanc, 34-35. ''j00'' takes the place of "you", originating from the affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. ...
sound that occurs in place of the palatal approximant
The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic no ...
, , when ''you'' follows a word ending in an alveolar Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit.
Uses in anatomy and zoology
* Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs
** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte
** Alveolar duct
** Alveolar macrophage
* ...
plosive
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...
consonant, such as or . Also, from German, is ''über
''Über'' (, sometimes written ''uber'' in English-language publications) is a German language word meaning "over", "above" or "across". It is an etymological twin with German ''ober'', and is a cognate (through Proto-Germanic) with English ' ...
'', which means "over" or "above"; it usually appears as a prefix attached to adjectives, and is frequently written without the umlaut over the ''u''.Van de Velde & Meuleman.
Haxor and suxxor (suxorz)
''Haxor'', and derivations thereof, is leet for "hacker",LeBlanc, 30; 32. and it is one of the most commonplace examples of the use of the ''-xor'' suffix. ''Suxxor'' (pronounced suck-zor) is a derogatory term which originated in warez
Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural ...
culture and is currently used in multi-user environments such as multiplayer video games and instant messaging
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...
; it, like ''haxor'', is one of the early leet words to use the ''-xor'' suffix. ''Suxxor'' is a modified version of "sucks" (the phrase "to suck"), and the meaning is the same as the English slang. ''Suxxor'' can be mistaken with ''Succer/Succker'' if used in the wrong context. Its negative definition essentially makes it the opposite of ''roxxor'', and both can be used as a verb or a noun. The letters ''ck'' are often replaced with the Greek Χ (chi
Chi or CHI may refer to:
Greek
*Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ);
Chinese
*Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter
*Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon
*Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
) in other words as well.
n00b
Within leet, the term ''n00b'', and derivations thereof, is used extensively. The word means and derives from ''newbie'' (as in new and inexperienced or uninformed), and is used as a means of segregating them as less than the "elite," or even "normal," members of a group.
Owned and pwned
''Owned'' and ''pwned'' (generally pronounced "poned") both refer to the domination of a player in a video game or argument (rather than just a win), or the successful hacking of a website or computer.LeBlanc, 32-33. It is a slang term derived from the verb ''own
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
'', meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. As is a common characteristic of leet, the terms have also been adapted into noun and adjective forms, ''ownage'' and ''pwnage'', which can refer to the situation of ''pwning'' or to the superiority of its subject (e.g., "He is a very good player. He is pwnage.").
The term was created accidentally by the misspelling of "own" in video game design due to the keyboard proximity of the "O" and "P" keys. It implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You just got pwned!"). In 2015 Scrabble added pwn to their Official Scrabble Words list.
Pr0n
''Pr0n'' is slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
for ''pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,''. This is a deliberately inaccurate spelling/pronunciation for ''porn'',The Acronym Finder. where a zero is often used to replace the letter O. It is sometimes used in legitimate communications (such as email discussion groups, Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
, chat rooms, and Internet web pages) to circumvent language and content filter
An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Content-control software dete ...
s, which may reject messages as offensive or spam
Spam may refer to:
* Spam (food), a canned pork meat product
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
. The word also helps prevent search engines
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
from associating commercial sites with pornography, which might result in unwelcome traffic. ''Pr0n'' is also sometimes spelled backwards (n0rp) to further obscure the meaning to potentially uninformed readers. It can also refer to ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant chara ...
depicting pornographic images, or to photos of the internals of consumer and industrial hardware. ''Prawn'', a spoof of the misspelling, has started to come into use, as well; in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'', a pornographer films his movies on "Prawn Island". Conversely, in the RPG RPG may refer to:
Military
* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon
**''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
''Kingdom of Loathing
''Kingdom of Loathing'' (abbreviated ''KoL'') is a Browser game, browser-based Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Role-playing video game, role-playing game designed and operated by Asymmetric Publications, including creator Zack "Jick" Johnson ...
'', '' prawn'', referring to a kind of crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
, is spelled ''pr0n'', leading to the creation of food items such as "pr0n chow mein".
Also see porm.
See also
* Calculator spelling
Calculator spelling is an unintended characteristic of the seven-segments display traditionally used by calculators, in which, when read upside-down, the digits resemble letters of the Latin alphabet. Each digit may be mapped to one or more let ...
* Faux Cyrillic
Faux Cyrillic, pseudo-Cyrillic, pseudo-Russian or faux Russian typography is the use of Cyrillic letters in Latin text, usually to evoke the Soviet Union or Russia, though it may be used in other contexts as well. It is a common Western trope us ...
* Geek Code
The Geek Code, developed in 1993, is a series of letters and symbols used by self-described "geeks" to inform fellow geeks about their personality, appearance, interests, skills, and opinions. The idea is that everything that makes a geek individ ...
* Hexspeak Hexspeak, like leetspeak, is a novelty form of variant English spelling using the hexadecimal digits. Created by programmers as memorable magic numbers, hexspeak words can serve as a clear and unique identifier with which to mark memory or data.
H ...
* Jargon File
The Jargon File is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and others of the old ARPANET A ...
, a glossary and usage dictionary of computer programmer slang
* SMS language
* LOLCAT
A lolcat (pronounced ), or LOLcat, is an image macro of one or more cats. Lolcat images' idiosyncratic and intentionally grammatically incorrect text is known as lolspeak.
Lolcat is a compound word of the acronymic abbreviation LOL (laugh out ...
* All your base are belong to us
* Padonkaffsky jargon
Padonkaffsky jargon (russian: язык падонкафф, ''yazyk padonkaff'') or Olbanian (, ''olbanskiy'') is a cant language developed by a subculture of Runet called padonki (russian: падонки). It started as an Internet slang languag ...
Notes
Footnotes
References
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Further reading
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External links
Leet Translator
*
{{Authority control
Alphabets
Encodings
In-jokes
Internet culture
Internet memes
Internet slang
Latin-script representations
Nerd culture
Nonstandard spelling
Obfuscation
1990s slang