Whether you’re new to streaming and want a crash course on the jargon to know — or you’re just someone who wants to understand the vast array of Twitch emotes that have worked their way into actual human speech — this Twitch terms dictionary is the perfect guide.
Twitch Words, Memes, and Slang Dictionary
If this post enlightens you, check out our VTuber slang dictionary!
A
Achievement – Just like game achievements, Twitch achievements are like trophies for streamers they can access in the creator dashboard. Some achievements track progress toward tangible goals like affiliate and partner status, while others are purely motivational.
Admin – An admin is a global moderator of Twitch. Unlike a mod, they aren’t assigned by the streamer but are a Twitch employee who resolves disputes.
Affiliate – Once a streamer unlocks Twitch Affiliate status, they can use features to get subscribers, cheers, and emotes. You can unlock it once you have 50 followers.
Alert – Stream alerts pop up on the screen to show new subscribers, followers, cheers, donations, and merch purchases. Alerts are powered by StreamElements, Stream Labs, or Muxy.
Andy – Absolutely anyone can be an Andy; what matters is the type of Andy they are. Usually, streamers who reacts to others content might be called a React Andy, or the more refined React Anderson. You might also hear of someone being an 8K Andy or another number meaning the number of viewers they average.
B
Ban – Streamers can be banned for breaking TOS by Twitch. They are usually temporary, as only a few people have been banned permanently from the platform. As a viewer, you can be banned from a channel by the streamer or their moderators, which may be a time-out or permaban. If you are banned, your other accounts will also be shadow banned and your messages will not be visible to them in chat.
Bit – Bits are tokens you can use to “cheer” for streamers, usually causing an alert to show on stream. They contribute to a streamer’s earnings, with 100 bits equaling $1 USD.
Bitrate – The quality of a stream.
Bot – Chatbots add useful or entertaining features to stream chats. They are helpful for moderation settings as well as things like points or commands. Some popular bots are Nightbot, StreamElements, and MooBot.
Botting – Botting refers to fake viewers to create an inflated viewer count on a stream. Botting is strictly against TOS, and is used by some scam streams like fake giveaways.
Bleed Purple – Purple is the iconic color of Twitch, so it’s associated with streaming there. BleedPurple is also an emote on the site.
Brigade – Brigading is a type of trolling where one community sends viewers to another one with ill intentions.
BTTV (See also FFZ) – BTTV, or Better Twitch TV, is a Chrome extension that adds additional features to Twitch chat and lots of control for viewers. If you see people typing nonsensical word strings, they might just be emotes you can only see if you have BTTV installed. FFZ is a similar extension.
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C
Capture Card – A capture card allows you to connect your game console to your computer so you can stream your gameplay online. A good card like the Elgato HD60 S is preferable to streaming directly from the console. You can use software like OBS and an alerts setup to add your gaming capture. (Read How to Use OBS to Stream to Twitch)
Category – Twitch Categories are sections of the site you’ll be listed under in the Browse section of the site. This is usually the title of the game you’re playing, but might also be Just Chatting, Travel and Outdoors, or Art.
Channel Points – Twitch channel points are awarded to viewers for watching and interacting with the stream, and are redeemable for rewards set by the streamer. You can get points for free just by watching, but being a subscriber can add a multiplier to the number earned. Other channel actions like gifting subs and cheering with bits can earn channel points. If you’re a streamer, check out these fun Twitch channel point rewards ideas.
Cheer (see also Bits) – Cheers support streamers with Twitch’s currency called bits.
Cheer Badge – The symbol to the right of a username denoting how many bits the person has cheered in a channel. Streamers can upload custom badges or use the default Twitch badges. Hovering your mouse over them shows the amount of bits cheered. You can also hide the number by editing your chat appearance.
Clip – Viewers can clip sections of a Twitch stream up to a minute long. Just click on the clapper icon or use alt+x to capture the previous minute of the stream, then adjust and title it.
Clip Chimp – Clip chimp is slang for using clips to portray a streamer out of context.
Commands – Commands are words you can type into chat after an exclamation mark to get a result back from the chatbot. Commonly, they’ll give an explanation or a URL. For example, many streamers use !discord to call their chatbot to link their Discord.
Concurrent Viewers – The number of viewers a stream has at the same time. The red “watching now” number shows the concurrent viewers. Concurrent viewers are used for Twitch streamer achievements such as for unlocking Affiliate and Partner status.
D
DansGame – A Twitch Global Emote used to express disgust.
Dono – A dono is shorthand for a donation, basically a tip, to the streamer. Streamers who accept tips will have a profile panel button or link to do so using a payment processor that shows the dono alert on stream.
E
Elgato – Elgato is a popular brand of game capture cards, stream decks, and green screens.
Emotes – Twitch has its own emotes for users to express themselves, known as global emotes. Streamers can upload their own once they reach affiliate status, and unlock more emote slots as they gain subscribers.
F
F – Viewers in Twitch chat type F whenever a stream has accidentally disconnected, even saying the stream has F’ed. It comes from the meme to press F to pay respects, in this case to our dearly departed stream connection.
FFZ – FrankerFaceZ, or FFZ, is a Chrome extension to add emotes and other bonus features to Twitch chat. See BTTV for another such extension.
G
Goog – Goog means good, at least in the Twitch chat of GTA (Grand Theft Auto) role play and variety game streamer Cyr thanks to his popular Uchiha Jones character.
Gift Sub – Twitch allows you to give gift subs to others in chat. You can choose who to gift the subscription to, or you can let Twitch choose a random recipient. You can buy one or many gift subs at once, and you can choose whether to do it anonymously.
H
Hate Raid – A sore spot on Twitch’s history, hate raids happen when a community outside of the Twitch site sends its users as well as bots to a live stream for purposes of harassment.
Highlight – Streamers can highlight parts of their past Twitch streams, similar to clips but as long as they want, then rename and organize them into sections. Unlike broadcasts that save automatically, highlights can stay on the streamer’s profile permanently.
Host – Twitch users can host other streamers on their own channel page, setting up favorites to autohost when they go live, or manually hosting a streamer when they decide to do so.
Hype – Hype is obviously excitement, but it’s usually about bit cheers, gift subs, donos, or other enthusiasm from a stream community.
Hype Train – Twitch ran with hype and created the Hype Train, which encourages viewers to jump on board and take an action when there’s a lot of hype.
I
IGN – In-game name.
Intro Video – A Twitch intro video is a standby scene when the streamer goes live, but doesn’t yet appear on screen. This allows chat time to get in before the stream starts, and for the streamer to double-check any last-minute tech issues. What Makes a Good Twitch Intro Video / Starting Screen?
IRL – Twitch’s IRL, or in real life, section was once anything that wasn’t a game or art. Now, there are separate categories for things like Just Chatting or Travel and Outdoors.
J
Jebaited – Jebaited means a streamer or member was baited, or tricked into believing something or reacting. It’s a global Twitch emote.
K
Kappa – A popular global Twitch emote that shows you’re kidding. It has a variation called Kapp.
KEKW – A global FFZ emote depicting the comedian Juan Joya Borja in a laughing fit from a viral 2007 video. “Kek” is a Korean way of saying LOL.
Kreygasm – The streamer Kreyg in a moment of great … enjoyment. It’s a global emote and has popularized “gasm” emotes with many streamers recreating their own or commissioning artists to draw them.
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L
LUL – On Twitch, LUL is a version of LOL, and typing it pulls up a global emote of the late streamer TotalBiscuit laughing.
LULW – An FFZ version of LUL.
M
Mald / Malding – To mald or be malding means being angry, the joke being that it’s so much that you lose hair.
Mod – A Twitch mod is a channel’s moderator appointed by the streamer. Mods have powers to ban or time out people in chat, and to control other aspects of the chat experience.
monka / monkaS – A BTTV emote depicting nervousness on Pepe the frog.
Moobot – A popular chatbot streamers can connect to their Twitch chat or to their Discord servers.
N
Nightbot – Nightbot is a popular chatbot streamers can connect to their Twitch chat or to their Discord servers. Connect it to your Twitch account here.
O
O7 – An emoticon depicting a salute, often used as a greeting or departure.
OBS – Open Broadcaster Software, or OBS Studio, is a free, open-source program for streaming and recording video. Here’s our quick-start guide to OBS. You can use it in conjunction with StreamElements for alerts (and a capture card if you’re using a console) to create a full streaming experience.
Overlay – An overlay is a design for your stream. You might have different scenes set up with different overlays, for example a starting, ending, intermission, and chatting scene. You can use overlays that come with StreamElements or StreamLabs, buy one, commission an artist to make one, or make your own.
P
Partner – Partner status is the highest tier streamers can unlock on Twitch, and grants them a partner contract, more perks like emotes and better revenue, and a purple check mark.
Panel – A Twitch panel is the profile section header where you can upload an image.
PepeHands – A global BTTV emote depicting sadness.
Prime – Prime refers to Twitch Prime, which comes with Amazon Prime. You can use Twitch Prime to subscribe to one streamer per month for free, and to get game loot and other perks. If you don’t have it, you can get a one-month free trial. If you’re a student, you can get six months free.
Pog – People say this to show amazement. If you have BTTV installed, it pulls up an emote of the streamer Gootecks.
Pog / PogChamp – People say this to show amazement. If you have BTTV installed, it pulls up an emote of the streamer Gootecks.
Poggers – Another amazement emote, but this time using the Pepe character and associated with BTTV.
R
Raid – A Twitch raid is a Twitch feature that lets a streamer to end their stream by sending their viewers to another channel of their choice. Not to be confused with a hate raid, which usually comes from communities outside of Twitch’s site.
S
Sadge – Sadness or disappointment, usually ironic. It’s usually expressed with the sadge “Pepe” the frog emote.
Scuffed – Just like shoes can be scuffed, so can streams, their framerates, and other qualities be.
SLOBS – Streamlabs is a streaming app that used to be called SLOBS, but after controversy for using the original free OBS and confusing their paying customers, finally took the OBS out of their name.
SourPls – An animated dancing emote associated with BTTV
StreamElements – A service you can connect to Twitch to manage your stream. You can make alerts, overlays, chat commands, and set up merch. Read: How to use StreamElements with OBS.
StreamLabs – A service you can connect to Twitch to manage your stream. You can make alerts, overlays, chat commands, and set up merch. Streamlabs is a re-skinned version of OBS Studio, which is free and runs lighter.
Sub / Subscriber – A subscriber on Twitch is someone who has the paid access to a streamer’s content. This usually means no ads, access to the streamer’s emotes, subscriber-only sections of the Discord, and the ability to watch VODs if they are locked to non-subscribers. Subscriptions are 4.99, but cost more if you use the Apple store. You can also gift people subs, or receive gift subs. Finally, you can subscribe for free if you have Twitch Prime.
Sub Badge – The symbol to the left of a person’s username in chat that shows that they are subscribed to the channel they’re in. Badges upgrade over time, and streamers can upload custom sub badges. If you want to get sub badges for your own channel, check out this guide to Twitch design sizes.
Subathon – A subathon is an event a streamer holds to encourage subscribers, usually doing something out of the ordinary for each subscriber. Get ideas for subathons here: Twitch subathons and sub goal ideas.
Staff – Staff are Twitch employees, who show up with a gear icon to the left of their username. Although people meme about staff being in chat, Twitch staff are not necessarily moderators or in charge of disputes, and may be programmers, for example.
Stream Sniper – Stream sniping refers to a player locating a streamer in-game to unfairly compete, but has also evolved to mean showing up in person where a Just Chatting / IRL streamer is in person. Read how to Stay Private and Anonymous on Twitch.
Swat – Swatting is the act of calling in a false report to police about someone with grave enough accusations to cause a SWAT team to show up to the victim’s location. Be careful with your personal information and location.
T
Tag – Twitch allows streamers to choose several tags to label their stream in addition to the category. They can refer to play style, content focus, language, or rules.
Tip – A tip on Twitch is a stream donation or dono paid through the streamer’s StreamElements, Streamlabs, or PayPal directly. This is in contrast to tipping by bits or using subs, which Twitch takes a cut of.
Troll – A troll is the same on Twitch as anywhere. Beware, because they like to read your rules just to try and bait you by breaking them.
Turbo – Twitch Turbo is a monthly subscription that allows you to watch ad-free and customize your name color and emotes. Some of these features are free if you have Twitch Prime.
V
Video on Demand (VOD) – A Twitch VOD is a past broadcast of a streamer that stays up after they go offline. They are retained for 60 days or until the streamer deletes them. VODs can be saved if they are turned into Highlights.
Views – Streams include a number of total lifetime views, which is the number of times their channel has been viewed in all time. The number of viewers at a given moment while live, on the other hand, is called concurrent viewers.
VTuber – A VTuber is a streamer or YouTuber who uses a virtual avatar that moves with them via face-tracking. There are both indie VTubers and VTuber talents recruited or trained by VTuber agencies. Since this is such a rapidly growing phenomenon, check out our VTuber terms glossary.
W
Whisper – A private message on Twitch is called a whisper.
widepeepoHappy – A happy face emote of Pepe that has become a word that people say out loud.
X
Xsplit – A capture card and streaming app.
Twitch Terms and Slang Conclusion
Was this list of Twitch terms and glossary or emote-speak helpful to you? Hopefully now you’re locked and loaded with new words you can use in Twitch chat today!
