Leet
Encyclopedia
Leet also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet
for the English language
that is used primarily on the Internet
. It uses various combinations of ASCII
characters to replace Latinate
letters. For example, leet spellings of the word leet include 1337 and l33t; eleet may be spelled 31337 or 3l33t.
The term leet is derived from the word elite
. The leet alphabet is a specialized form of symbol
ic writing. Leet may also be considered a substitution cipher
, although many dialects or linguistic varieties
exist in different online communities. The term leet is also used as an adjective
to describe formidable prowess or accomplishment, especially in the fields of online gaming
and in its original usage, computer hacking.
s in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a bulletin board system (BBS) allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms. One theory is that it was developed to defeat text filters created by BBS or Internet Relay Chat
system operators for message boards to discourage the discussion of forbidden topics, like cracking
and hacking
. Creative misspellings and ASCII-art-derived words were also a way to attempt to indicate one was knowledgeable about the culture of computer users. Once the reserve of hackers
, crackers, and script kiddies, leet has since entered the mainstream. It is now also used to mock newbie
s, or newcomers, on web sites, or in gaming communities. Some consider emoticons and ASCII art
, like smiley faces, to be leet, while others maintain that leet consists of only symbolic word encryption. More obscure forms of leet, involving the use of symbol combinations and almost no letters or numbers, continue to be used for its original purpose of encrypted communication. It is also sometimes used as a script language. Variants of leet have been used for censorship purposes for many years; for instance "@$$
"Ass and "$#!+
"Shit are frequently seen to make a word appear censored to the untrained eye but obvious to a person familiar with leet.
, using substitutions of other characters, letters or otherwise, to represent a letter or letters in a word. For more casual use of leet, the primary strategy is to use homoglyph
s, symbols that closely resemble (to varying degrees) the letters for which they stand. The symbol chosen is flexible—anything that the reader can make sense of is valid. However, this practice is not extensively used in regular Leet; more often it is seen in situations where the argot
(i.e., "secret language") characteristics of the system are required, either to exclude newbies or outsiders in general, i.e., anything that the average reader cannot make sense of is valid; a valid reader should himself try to make sense, if deserving of the underlying message. Another use for Leet orthographic substitutions is the creation of paraphrased passwords. By using this method, one can create a relatively secure password which would still be easily remembered. Limitations imposed by websites on password length (usually no more than 36) and the characters permitted (usually alphanumeric and underscore) requires less extensive forms of Leet when used in this application.
Some examples of leet include B1FF
and n00b
, a term for the stereotypical newbie
; the l33t programming language; and the webcomic Megatokyo
, which contains characters who speak Leet.
The -xor suffix
The meaning of this suffix is parallel with the English -er and -r suffixes (seen in hacker and lesser), in that it derives agent noun
s from a verb stem. It is realized in two different forms: -xor and -zor, icon and -, respectively. For example, the first may be seen in the word hax(x)or (H4x0r in leet) (ˈ) and the second in pwnzor (ˈ). Additionally, this nominalization
may also be inflected
with all of the suffixes of regular English verbs
. The letter 'o' is often replaced with the numeral 0.
The -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. 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.
The -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
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).
Use of the -& suffix
Words ending in -and, -anned, -ant, or a similar sound can sometimes be spelled with an ampersand (&) to express the ending sound (e.g. "This is the s&box
," "I'm sorry, you've been b&", "&hill/&farm"). This is most commonly used with the word banned. An alternate form of "B&" is "B7", as the ampersand is typed with the "7" key in the standard US keyboard layout. It is often seen in the phrase "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 both posting.
Use of the "-zorz" suffix
Verbs that are generated on the internet (such as pwn) can be inflected by putting "zorz" on the end (generating the word pwnzorz in this example). The -zorz suffix can also be used to strengthen the meaning of the word (pwn means to defeat or to make a fool of; pwnzorz means to really beat or to make a fool of in a large way)
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
for the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
that is used primarily on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. It uses various combinations of ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
characters to replace Latinate
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
letters. For example, leet spellings of the word leet include 1337 and l33t; eleet may be spelled 31337 or 3l33t.
The term leet is derived from the word elite
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
. The leet alphabet is a specialized form of symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic writing. Leet may also be considered a substitution cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher 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. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
, although many dialects or linguistic varieties
Variety (linguistics)
In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
exist in different online communities. The term leet is also used as an adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
to describe formidable prowess or accomplishment, especially in the fields of online gaming
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
and in its original usage, computer hacking.
History
Leet originated within bulletin board systemBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
s in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a bulletin board system (BBS) allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms. One theory is that it was developed to defeat text filters created by BBS or Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
system operators for message boards to discourage the discussion of forbidden topics, like cracking
Software cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
and hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
. Creative misspellings and ASCII-art-derived words were also a way to attempt to indicate one was knowledgeable about the culture of computer users. Once the reserve of hackers
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, crackers, and script kiddies, leet has since entered the mainstream. It is now also used to mock newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
s, or newcomers, on web sites, or in gaming communities. Some consider emoticons and ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
, like smiley faces, to be leet, while others maintain that leet consists of only symbolic word encryption. More obscure forms of leet, involving the use of symbol combinations and almost no letters or numbers, continue to be used for its original purpose of encrypted communication. It is also sometimes used as a script language. Variants of leet have been used for censorship purposes for many years; for instance "@$$
Ass
Ass may refer to:* The mammal Equus africanus asinus better known as the Donkey** Asinus subgenus* North American English informal term for buttocks* áss, one of the Æsir in Norse mythology* Ass , by Badfinger...
"Ass and "$#!+
Shit
Shit is usually considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun it refers to fecal matter and as a verb it means to defecate or defecate in; in the plural it means diarrhea...
"Shit are frequently seen to make a word appear censored to the untrained eye but obvious to a person familiar with leet.
Orthography
One of the hallmarks of leet is its unique approach to orthographyOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
, using substitutions of other characters, letters or otherwise, to represent a letter or letters in a word. For more casual use of leet, the primary strategy is to use homoglyph
Homoglyph
In typography, a homoglyph is one of two or more characters, or glyphs, with shapes that either appear identical or cannot be differentiated by quick visual inspection. This designation is also applied to sequences of characters sharing these properties....
s, symbols that closely resemble (to varying degrees) the letters for which they stand. The symbol chosen is flexible—anything that the reader can make sense of is valid. However, this practice is not extensively used in regular Leet; more often it is seen in situations where the argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
(i.e., "secret language") characteristics of the system are required, either to exclude newbies or outsiders in general, i.e., anything that the average reader cannot make sense of is valid; a valid reader should himself try to make sense, if deserving of the underlying message. Another use for Leet orthographic substitutions is the creation of paraphrased passwords. By using this method, one can create a relatively secure password which would still be easily remembered. Limitations imposed by websites on password length (usually no more than 36) and the characters permitted (usually alphanumeric and underscore) requires less extensive forms of Leet when used in this application.
Some examples of leet include B1FF
BIFF
BIFF, later sometimes B1FF, was a pseudonym on, and the prototypical newbie of, Usenet. BIFF was created as and taken up as a satire of a partly amusing, partly annoying, mostly unwelcome intrusion into a then fairly rarefied community.- Origin :...
and n00b
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
, a term for the stereotypical newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
; the l33t programming language; and the webcomic Megatokyo
Megatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
, which contains characters who speak Leet.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 |
8 >3 6 13 |3 ß ]3 |
( |
>) [) ∂ ]) I> |> 0 ð cl |
3 |
>= ]= } ph (= ʃ |
6 |
>-| # ]-[ [-] )-( (-) :-: }{ }-{ aych |
! 1 > eye 3y3 ai ¡ |
_> _/ ] ¿ _) ʝ |
X >< |X |{ ɮ |
1 7 >_ £ | |_ lJ ¬ |
44 /\/\ >\/| em |v| IYI IVI [V] ^^ nn //\\//\\ (V) (\/) /|\ /|/| .\\ /^^\ /V\ |^^| AA |
>\| /\/ //\\// И [\] <\> {\} // ₪ []\[] ]\[ ~ |
0 |
>* |o |º |> |" ? 9 []D |7 q þ ¶ ℗ |D |
0_ 0, <> cue 9 ¶ |
>2 2 /2 I2 |^ |~ lz ® |2 [z |` l2 Я .- ʁ |
5 |
7 + 1 '][' † |
>_| (_) Y3W M µ [_] \_/ \_\ /_/ |
\/ |
\/\/ vv '// \\' \^/ (n) \X/ \>/ \_|_/ \\//\\// \_:_/ ]I[ UU Ш ɰ ￦ JL |
% |
j |
2 |
|
Please note this table is to be used as a guide and not a full translation tool. Leet is ever-changing and not all replacements will, or can, be included. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morphology
Text rendered in leet is often characterized by distinctive, recurring forms.The -xor suffix
The meaning of this suffix is parallel with the English -er and -r suffixes (seen in hacker and lesser), in that it derives agent noun
Agent noun
In linguistics, an agent noun is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, "driver" is an agent noun formed from the verb "drive". The endings "-er", "-or", and "-ist" are commonly used in English to form agent...
s from a verb stem. It is realized in two different forms: -xor and -zor, icon and -, respectively. For example, the first may be seen in the word hax(x)or (H4x0r in leet) (ˈ) and the second in pwnzor (ˈ). Additionally, this nominalization
Nominalization
In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation is the use of a verb, an adjective, or an adverb as the head of a noun phrase, with or without morphological transformation...
may also be inflected
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
with all of the suffixes of regular English verbs
English verbs
Verbs in the English language are a part of speech and typically describe an action, an event, or a state.While English has many irregular verbs , for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward...
. The letter 'o' is often replaced with the numeral 0.
The -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. 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.
The -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
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
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).
Use of the -& suffix
Words ending in -and, -anned, -ant, or a similar sound can sometimes be spelled with an ampersand (&) to express the ending sound (e.g. "This is the s&box
Sandbox (software development)
A sandbox is a testing environment that isolates untested code changes and outright experimentation from the production environment or repository, in the context of software development including Web development and revision control...
," "I'm sorry, you've been b&", "&hill/&farm"). This is most commonly used with the word banned. An alternate form of "B&" is "B7", as the ampersand is typed with the "7" key in the standard US keyboard layout. It is often seen in the phrase "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 both posting.
Use of the "-zorz" suffix
Verbs that are generated on the internet (such as pwn) can be inflected by putting "zorz" on the end (generating the word pwnzorz in this example). The -zorz suffix can also be used to strengthen the meaning of the word (pwn means to defeat or to make a fool of; pwnzorz means to really beat or to make a fool of in a large way)