BJJ glossary

22 words you will hear on the mat in your first months, in plain English. Each one has its own page you can share.

Base: Your balance and stability. Good base means a wide, low stance that’s hard to sweep.
Posture: Keeping your spine straight and head up, especially inside someone’s guard.
Frame: Using your bones (forearms, shins) as a solid structure to hold space instead of pushing with muscles.
Shrimp (hip escape): Pushing off your feet to slide your hips away. The most important escape movement in BJJ.
Bridge: Lifting your hips explosively from your back to off-balance someone on top of you.
Underhook: Your arm under their armpit. Winning the underhook usually wins the exchange.
Overhook (whizzer): Your arm wrapped over their arm. Used to stop their underhook or attack.
Crossface: Your forearm across their face, turning their head away so they can’t turn into you.
Pummel: Swimming your arms inside to win underhooks or inside position.
Hooks: Your feet or shins hooked inside their legs, as in back control or butterfly guard.
Seatbelt: One arm over the shoulder, one under the armpit, hands clasped, when you have someone’s back.
Pass: Getting past someone’s legs to a pin like side control or mount.
Sweep: Reversing position from guard so you end up on top.
Guard: Any position where you’re on your back or seated and using your legs to control them.
Knee line: The line of their knee relative to your hips. Controlling it matters most in leg locks.
Sprawl: Throwing your legs back and hips down to stop a takedown.
Tap: Patting your partner (or the mat) twice, or saying “tap”, to submit. Always respected immediately.
Roll: A live sparring round.
Positional sparring: Live rounds that start in one position with set goals for each person.
Flow roll: Light, cooperative rolling where both partners let techniques happen.
Gi / no-gi: Training in the kimono with grips on cloth, or in shorts and a rash guard without them.
Oss: A common greeting or acknowledgement in many gyms. Usage varies by gym.