The Extended Glossary of Surfing Terms and Slang
September 7, 2022
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Surf talk has got to be one of the most unique and recognizable lingos in the English language. Countless movies have portrayed the special way surfers speak, and even cartoons are using the surf terms for comedic relief.
Case and point: Remember Crush, the turtle/laid-back surfer dude in Disney’s Finding Nemo? He was speaking in ‘surferese’!
Needless to say, though we know that not all surfers talk like Crush, there is an undeniable surf slang that one needs to know in order to understand the world of surfing. After all, you wouldn’t want to go on a surf camp for beginners and not understand what your instructors are telling you. This is precisely why we’ve decided to come to your rescue with an extended glossary of 180+ essential surf terms!
360 – a surf move consisting of turning the surfboard at a 360-degree angle while on the face of a wave
A-frame – a wave shaped like a peak that breaks both left and right, equally
Aggro – aggressive surfing/surfer
Air/Aerial – is a maneuver in which the board leaves the surface or the water/wave
Akaw! – awesome, cool
Amped – feeling excited, pumped up
Ankle busters – waves that are too small to ride
Backdoor – going inside a tube/barrel, also known as the curl of the wave, from behind its peak
Bailing – Jumping off your board into the water in order to avoid a bad encounter
Barney – a surfer that is not cool, is untalented or a rookie
Barrel – a tube, the curl of the wave, the hollow part of a wave when it is breaking, and one of the most sought-after things in surfing
Beach break – the places where the waves break over sandbars
Benny – a person who is not a local
Bitchin’ – awesome, amazing, great
Bodyboard – a small surfing board, also known as a booger, a boogie board
Bomb – a massive wave
Bottom turn – a turn that is made at the bottom of the wave; a very important maneuver that sets the tone for the ride
Break – when the swell of the water breaks, turning into waves and white water
Bro – dude, brother, surfer
Carve – a maneuver that is a sharp turn on the face of the wave
Caught inside – being caught between the shoreline and the breaking waves
Charging – aggressively going for a wave
Choppy – rough waves due to wind conditions
Clean wave – a smooth wave, with no bumps
Closeout – when a wave breaks suddenly and all at once
Clucked – being scared of waves
Crease – damage to the surfboard caused by an impact
Crest – the highest point of a wave, the top of the wave
Curl – the area of the wave where it is breaking
Cutback – a surf move done sharply in the shoulder or the wave or on its flats to get back on the surf line
Cutting off – the action of catching a wave in front of a surfer, who was going for it and was closer to it, thus stealing the wave from them; also known as snaking
Dawn patrol – going surfing first thing in the morning
Deck – the top surface of a surfboard
Dick drag – a derogatory term referring to the action of lying down on your board while riding a wave
Ding – any damage to your surfboard
Double up/humpback – when two waves combine; one large wave closely followed by a smaller one
Drop – the first part of a ride, when the surfer goes down the face of the wave
Drop in – synonym to cutting off, but also to drop down the face of a wave
Image source: thesurfingphotog.com
Duck diving – diving under a breaking wave, ducking your body and the surfboard under a breaking wave
Dude – a surfer, a friend
Epic – great surf session, awesome wave, top surf
Eskimo roll – a surf move that gets the surfer through a large wave or a broken wave without being washed to shore
Face – the part of the wave that has yet to break, where most rides take place
Fade – when surfers put themselves into the most powerful part of the wave
Far out! – great, amazing, spectacular
Firing – fun surf
Flat – no surf, no waves
Floater – a surf move where the surfer rides the top of the wave, then drops back into the main part of the wave
Foam – the material surfboards are made of and it also signifies the white water/bubbles that occurs when a wave breaks
Foamies – waves made of foam
Forehand/ front side – surfing with your back to the beach and your face to the wave
Frube – a surfer who does not manage to catch a wave for the entire time they are in the water
Funboard – a medium-length surfboard
Glassy – smooth, when referring to the water
Gnarly – difficult, challenging
Goat boater – a surf ski
Going off – great surf, as in “It’s just going off today, dude!”
Goofy foot – when a surfer’s right foot is forward and the left is in the back, while on the surfboard
Green room – the inside of a barrel
Grom – a young surfer, usually under 16; also known as a grommet
Grubbing – falling off the surfboard while surfing
Gun – a big wave surfboard
Hang eleven – used to describe a male surfer who rides naked
Hang five – riding a surfboard with one foot placed on the nose of the board
Hang loose – the salutation that accompanies the sign of Shaka
Hang ten – riding a surfboard with both feet placed on the nose of the board
Header – to fall off a surfboard
Heavy – big, awesome waves
Helicopter – a surf move in which the surfer spins the surfboard around from its nose
Hit the lip – when a surfer turns up their surfboard to hit the falling lip of the wave, allowing the surfboard to be smashed down
Hodad – a person who hangs around the beach and does not surf
Hollow – barrels, tubes
Impact zone – the place where the waves are breaking the hardest
Inside – the place between the shore and the impact zone
Into the soup – inside the foam, the white water
Jacking – when the wave swells rapidly, from deep waters to shallow ones
Jake – a surfer who inadvertently is in the way of more experienced surfers
Juice – the power of the wave
Junkyard dog – a surfer with poor style
Keg – a barrel, a tube
Kick out – finishing the ride by going over the back or through the wave
Kickflip – rotating the surfboard 360 degrees, while in the air
Kneeboard – a special type of board meant for riding on knees
Kook – a rookie surfer or someone who isn’t very good at surfing
Layback – laying backwards on the wave
Leash – the piece of material that ties between the surfer’s leg and the surfboard
Left – a wave that breaks on the left of the surfer, from the peak
Line-up – the area in the water, away from the swell, where the surfers wait to get their turn at catching a wave
Lines – the swell, when it is approaching the shore
Lip – the upper-most part of a wave, right before it breaks
Localism – hostility showed by local surfers towards non-local surfers
Locked in – when a surfer gets caught inside a crashing wave
Longboard – a surfboard with a round nose that is at least 8ft (2.5 meters) long
Lull – the moment of calm between swells
Macking – huge waves breaking
Making the drop – catching a wave and sitting on the lower part of the wave’s shoulder
Maxed out –waves that are too large to break without closing out
Men in grey suits – sharks
Messy – irregular and unpredictable waves
Mullering – wiping out
Mush/Mushburger – soft non-surfable waves, without any energy
Namer – a surfer who shares a secret surf spot with others
New school – trick surfing
Noah – shark
Noodle arms – tired arms
Nose – the front and pointed part of the surfboard
Nose guard – a rubber tip meant to protect the nose of the surfboard
Nose riding – a longboarding move where the person surfs on the nose of the board
Nug – a good wave
Off the lip – see re-entry; also known as hitting or smacking the lip
Offshore – winds that are blowing from the shore towards the ocean
Onshore – winds that are blowing from the ocean towards the shore
Outback – beyond the place where the waves break
Outside – the place beyond the lineup
Outside break – the furthest place from the shore where the waves are still breaking
Over the falls – a dangerous type of wipeout in which a surfer falls off the board and is sucked in by the wave in a tubular motion, often being held down very deep; also referred to as being “pitched over” or “wash cycle”
Overgunned – when the board is inappropriate for the surfing conditions
Overhead – when a wave is higher than an average surfer
Paddlepuss – a person who plays in whitewater and is afraid to stray from the beach
Party wave – a wave that several people are surfing
Peak – the highest point of a breaking wave that generates both left and right surfable shoulders
Pearl – when a surfer buries the nose of their surfboard into the wave
Peeling – when a wave breaks perfectly
Pigdog – a position that reflects the surfer grabbing onto the rails while inside a barrel
Pintail – a surfboard tail shape that is perfect for hollow surfing
Pit – the barrel of a large and strong wave
Pocket – the power pocket of a barrel or powerful wave and where you want to position yourself
Point break – a type of wave that is found around a point of land, a coastline with a headland
Pop up – the move surfers make to move from lying on the surfboard to standing up to surf
Pull in – turning the surfboard up to enter a barrel
Pumping – decent surfing conditions
Quimby – a beginner surfer who is usually annoying
Image source: paragonsurfboards.com
Quiver – a surfer’s surfboard collection
Racy – a fast surfable wave
Rad/radical – awesome and impressive surfing
Rails – the sides of the board
Rail bang – to take a surfboard between the legs, while falling
Raked over – to be pounded by strong waves when paddling out to catch a wave
Re-entry – when a surfer goes from the bottom of the wave all the way up to the highest point of the wave, or the lip, and then steers back in on the face of the wave
Regular footed – a surfer who surfs with their left foot forward (this means that they don’t face the wave on lefts)
Ricos – rich, perfect
Right – a wave that breaks on the right of the surfer, from the peak
Riptide – a powerful and narrow current caused within an estuary or an enclosed tidal area, which flows away from the beach, pulling you out to sea
Rock dance – the moves made by surfers who exit the water through a rocky section
Rocker – the curve under the surfboard
Section – the location in the water, where the waves aren’t breaking and where surfers are waiting their turn to advance and ride
Set – a series of waves that are approaching the lineup
Shacked – riding a great, big barrel
Shaka – sign surfers use, made by extending the thumb and the little finger
Shape – a word used to rate the quality of the breaking waves (perfect shape is when the wave breaks evenly)
Shore break/ shorepound – mostly unsurfable waves that break very right on the shore
Shoulder – the part of the breaking wave that is unbroken
Shove-it – the action of moving the surfboard (180 or 360 degrees) under the surfer, while riding a wave
Shred – riding a wave in a graceful, skillful, and flashy manner
Shred the gnar – aka ‘to tear it up’; to excel even in challenging situations while engaged in an outdoor sport like surfing, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding. ‘Gnar’ is short for ‘gnarly’
Shubie – a person who buys a surfboard and surf clothing, but does not surf
Sick – astounding, impressive, amazing
Sketchy – bad form when surfing
Slotted – a surfer well-positioned inside a barrel
Soft board – a surfboard with a soft surface, meant for beginners
Image source: surferdream.com
Soup – whitewater
Spat out – the action that occurs when a surfer exits a barrel alongside air and foamy water
Spit – the water that gets sprayed out from a barrel
Sponger – derogatory term for bodyboarder
Stall – a surf move meant to slow down the surfboard
Stick – a surfboard
Stoked – pumped, extremely happy, excited
Sucking dry – the action performed by powerful breaking waves, causing the seabed to become exposed
Surf camp – surf vacation with accommodation included, which includes surf lessons or guiding
Surfer’s knots – swellings on the back side of the leg, below the knee, as a result of kneeling on the surfboard waiting for a wave
Swell – ripples formed by the wind on the surface of the ocean, which gradually turn into waves
Tail – the back side of the board
Take off – to catch a wave
Through – the bottom of the wave as it starts breaking
Tombstoning – when the surfer is wiped out and sinking below the surface and their surfboard is bobbing up and down, connected to them through a leash
Tow in – used by big wave surfers, it refers to being towed in by a jet ski to the line-up for offshore big wave surf spots
Tube – barrel, the hollow of the wave
Tubular – awesome, great, rad
Turtle roll – a technique used to get the surfboard to go through a breaking wave; it implies hanging on to the rails, turning over so that the surfer is fully submerged and the fins of the surfboard become visible.
Twin fin – a twin fin surfboard
Wall – a face of the wave that has no area to ride on
Washing machine – getting rolled around underwater by a breaking wave
Wave hog – a surfer who will not share a wave
Wax – surfers wax their surfboards to help with traction
Whitewater – a broken, foamy wave; this is the type of wave that is preferred when learning to surf
Wipeout – falling off a wave while surfing
Worked – getting knocked off by a wave and then being in the washing machine
We hope that our glossary of surfing terms will help you improve your surf vocabulary. Why not sign up for a surf camp? It’s a great way to put your surf talk to the test!