![Learn the Top 150 Skateboarding Terms in 10 Minutes [Updated 2025]](data:image/svg+xml;nitro-empty-id=NjY2OjEwODM=-1;base64,PHN2ZyB2aWV3Qm94PSIwIDAgMjAgMTMiIHdpZHRoPSIyMCIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxMyIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIj48L3N2Zz4= "Learn the Top 150 Skateboarding Terms in 10 Minutes [Updated 2025]")
In This Article, You'll Learn How To Speak Skateboarder
Skateboarding is one of the most unique activities on the planet. Naturally, it comes with its own language, lingo and nomenclature.
With words like, “shredding, fakie, goofy, mongo” and infinite variations used to describe tricks, obstacles and inside knowledge, for a novice learning these terms it can mean the difference between remaining an outsider or being accepted into the crew.
Luckily for you, skateboarders are some of the most accepting people on the planet and GOSKATE is here to help you learn skateboarding terminology with our Beginner’s Guide to Skate Lingo.
In this article, we’ll go over:
Top 67 Skateboard Trick Lingo
Top 55 Skateboard Culture Lingo
Top 42 Skateboard Obstacle Lingo
With over 150 skateboarding terms sourced from hundreds of lifelong skaters, you’ll be well on your way to joining a skate crew and having the most fun of your life. Now, let’s GOSKATE!
Top 67 Skateboard Trick Lingo
What makes up a skateboarding trick? That’s a good question.
A skateboarding trick is a maneuver a skater does to manipulate the board in ways that produce complex combinations of movements.Tricks are precisely what gives skateboarding its artistic and innovative nature along with each skater’s pursuit of self expression.
While there are more basic tricks in skateboarding like the Ollie, Drop In and Kickturn, once you master the basics, the possibilities are infinite! But in order to understand how tricks are defined, we’ve got to master the words that make up the skateboarder language revolving trick terminology.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 180 |
180 is the term that describes the degrees of rotation during the performance of a trick. 360 is a full spin, 180 is half...
|
| 270 |
270 is that rare in-between rotation between 180 and 360 that is generally reserved for going into or out of a slide...
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| 360 |
A 360 is a full spin of the board or skater during the performance of a trick. A 360 kickflip is when the board does a 360 and a kickflip...
|
| 5-0 Grind | Grind is the term that describes when your trucks 'grind' on an obstacle, generally in the form of a rail, ledge or coping. Depending on how your board is positioned and what other parts of your trucks are interacting with the obstacle, tricks earn different names. Like the 5-0 grind, where a skater only grinds on their back truck and the front truck is lifted  |
| Axle |
The flat metal part of a skate truck to which the wheels and bearings are attached...
|
| Backside |
Backside is the descriptive term for when you’re performing a trick with the back of your body leading your momentum...
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| Baseplate |
The baseplate is the metal base of the truck that the screws socket to go into the deck...
|
| Bearings |
The bearings are within the wheel that produce the turning and speed of the wheel...
 |
| Bolts (hardware) |
Bolts are the same as conventional bolts in any industry but specifically go on the truck’s baseplate...
|
| Bonk |
Bonk is when you ‘bonk’ the front wheels of your skateboard onto the obstacle in a quick tap...
|
| Bushings |
The bushings are the parts of the trucks that absorb impact and allow the skateboard to turn on an axis...
|
| Buttery | Buttery is an adjective to describe a delicious style of how a skater performs a trick. "Dude, that was buttery!" |
| Carve | A skater carves upon a ramp, quarter pipe or pool when they 'carve' up the wall like a surfer on a wave. The carve is produced by leading their nose over an obstacle or a point on the ramp to turn the skater around to go back down. |
| Crooked Grind | A crooked grind is kinda like a Smith grind, but the skater comes at the rail straight on, not at an angle. It's super tricky to pull off just right, and even pros sometimes bail before they finish. |
| Darkslide | a trick invented by Rodney Mullen in which the skateboarder flips the board onto an obstacle, lands on it upside down with one foot on the nose and the other on the tail, and slides the area before landing on the flat ground. |
| Fakie | Fakie is when you ride on your board backwards but continue forward momentum. As in your momentum is leading your tail with your back foot now acting as your front. Imagine you stand to perform an ollie and you start rolling backwards... You're rolling fakie! |
| First Try | First try is when a skater lands their trick the first time they attempt it. "Dude, I landed it on the first try." The term is used as a barometer for how hard or how skillful a skater was able to perform the trick. |
| Flip In | The term flip in is used to describe when a skater does a kickflip or a heel flip into a grind, slide or manual. This term is generally used with tech skaters and adds a combination to the trick making it much more difficult to land. |
| Flip Out | The term flip out is used to describe when a skater flips their board via kickflip or heelflip 'out' of a grind, manual or slide. This term is also used generally with tech skaters and is a very hard maneuver to produce. |
| Flip Trick | A flip trick is describing those tricks that are flipped, like kickflip, heelflip and 360 kickflips. While all flip tricks are first performed on flatground, they can be done on any obstacle and into grinds, slides, stalls, and manuals. |
| Flick foot | Your flick foot is your front foot and flicks off the nose when you perform tricks like kickflip or heelflip. You might reference your flick foot when describing an injury or teaching a trick to someone else. |
| Flatground | Flatground is when a skater does flip tricks on flat ground and makes up the foundation of skate tricks. Rodney Mullen alone invented scores of flatground tricks both with flip tricks and freestyle tricks. |
| Freestyle Skater | A freestyle skater is a skateboarder who participates mainly in the freestyle of flatground skate tricks. This is akin to what the earliest skate contests saw in the 60s and 70s and consists of handstands, primo's and other tricks. |
| Front foot | Your front foot is what interacts with the nose of your board when you perform tricks like the ollie or a kickflip. It should not be your pedal foot as the extra time taking off your front foot to pedal not only looks ugly, but will inhibit your ability to do tricks in the future. |
| Frontside | Frontside is the descriptive term for when you're performing a trick with the face of your body or the front of your body leading your momentum. Essentially, your shoulders and hips have opened up toward the obstacle with the action of the trick happening in 'front' of you, hence frontside. |
| Frontside Noseblunt Slide | A frontside noseblunt slide is when you slide down a rail or ledge facing forward, with the front of your board pointing straight ahead. It's super tough to nail and even the pros wipe out on it a lot! |
| Goofy | Goofy is the term used for when a skater skates with their right foot forward. |
| Grab | A grab or grabs are those tricks where a skater grabs their board. More akin in bowl, pool and vert skating. Some tricks that are grabs are mute grab, melon grab, indy grab and nosegrab, and all make contact at different parts of the board and sometimes with different hands (front or back). |
| Grip | The grip tape or 'grip' is the sandpaper-like overcoat on top of the skateboard deck. Grip allows a skater to produce an ollie and flip tricks, making itself one of the most essential elements to any skateboard. |
| Handrail | A handrail is a rail that goes down a set of stairs a skater will skate in the form of grinds and slides. It takes a brave skater to skate handrails as they are found in the streets and can go beyond 20 stairs. |
| Heel Drag | A heel drag is when a skater is performing a trick and their foot doesn't land cleanly on the board and the heel hangs off the board touching the ground. During a game of skate, this produces a redo and often when filming a trick, a skater will want to redo it as well. |
| Heelflip | A heelflip is when the heel of your front foot flicks off the nose of your board to produce a single rotation or flip of the board. Some skaters will be more akin to heelflips than kickflips but most really good skaters can do both. |
| Hung Up | A skater will say they hung up on the coping when they failed to get their second truck over the coping and got caught while going back down the ramp. The skater gets 'hung up' on the coping. See obstacle terms for details on coping. |
| Hurricane | a grind trick starting with a 180 onto an obstacle landing on the back truck (which is now in front) with the nose pointing back, down, and towards the obstacle; essentially a 180 to fakie feeble. |
| Impossible | a trick in which the skater wraps the tail around their back foot 360 degrees, essentially a vertical 360 shuvit. |
| Judo | a grab trick in which the rider grabs the heel edge of their board near the front wheel with their front hand and kicks their front foot off in front of them. |
| Kickflip | A kickflip is when the toes of your front foot flick off the nose of your board to produce a single complete rotation or flip of the board. The kickflip is arguably the most iconic trick in skateboarding, and while it can be one of the hardest to learn, it is also considered the most satisfying. Check out the guide to Kickflips |
| Kicking out | Kicking out is when a skater kicks out the board in the air instead of attempting to land on the board. |
| Kingpin | The kingpin is a bolt connecting the axle of the trucks to the baseplate and is accompanied by bushings and bolts to complete the truck. |
| Kiss the rail | Kiss the rail is when a skater's truck just barely hits or 'kisses' the rail. |
| Laser Flip | A laser flip combines a 360-degree frontside shove-it with a heelflip, making it a highly complex trick. The board spins 360 degrees while also flipping in the air. To land it, the skater must control both rotations and keep their body centered. This coordination makes the laser flip one of the hardest flatground tricks to master. |
| Madonna | a grab trick in which the skater grabs the heel edge of his skateboard near the front wheel with their front hand and kicks their front foot off behind them; this trick is often done to tail smack on the way back into the transition.*Tony Hawk named this trick after the singer who at the time was as trendy as the trick itself. |
| Manual | A manual is when a skater rides on their back wheels or front wheels for an extended period of time - like a wheelie on a bike. The manual allows skaters to string together a complex combination of tricks for some of the most difficult 'technical' tricks in skateboarding. In example, kickflip manual kickflip out or kickflip nose manual, nollieflip out. |
| Method Air | a grab trick that entails the rider grabbing the heel edge of their board with their front hand and pulling that edge up towards their back.*named by Neil Blender who described this grab as the method for getting higher air. |
| Nollie | A nollie is when a skater performs an 'ollie' while popping off the nose of the skateboard, hence the combo - "n-ollie." The nollie, like the fakie ollie, opens up an entire new foundation for skate tricks. Because once you learn to nollie, you can do a nollie stance kickflip, or nollieflip. Or you can do a fakie stance kickflip, fakieflip, or even fakie ollie into a grind. |
| Nollie Inward Heelflip | A nollie inward heelflip is a trick that combines a nollie (popping the board with the front foot) with an inward heelflip, where the board flips and spins in an inward direction. The difficulty comes from the unique foot positioning required for a nollie, which is already harder than a regular ollie. Adding the inward heelflip makes it even more challenging, as the skateboarder must control both the flip and spin while maintaining balance. This combination of tricky footwork and extra rotation makes the nollie inward heelflip one of the most difficult tricks to land consistently. |
| Nose | The nose of your board is the 'front' or leading end of your skateboard deck. The nose is generally larger, more rounded and concave to better catch the flicks of front foot skate tricks. When tricks are performed on the nose, it will change its name to 'nosegrind' or 'nose pick' or 'nose manual', etc. |
| Nose Manual | A manual that is performed on the front two wheels and nose of the board. A nose manual will commonly be referred to as a nosemanny. |
| Ollie | The ollie is when a skateboarder produces a 'popping' of the skateboard to 'pop' into the air while jumping, bringing the board up with them. The ollie is the foundation of most skateboarding tricks and is considered one of the hardest for a beginner to learn. However, it is also the most satisfying...(Watch how to ollie)... |
| Pop | Pop is the term that describes when you smack your tail on the ground to perform an ollie or trick. It is also used as an adjective when someone has a high ollie. "That dude has pop!" |
| Pop Out | Pop out is a description for when you pop out of the obstacle when performing a trick. The ledge or rail might go on but you popped out of the obstacle early. Sometimes the ledge doesn't end and goes on for a really long time, so skaters will have to pop out of the ledge in order to land a trick. |
| Popshuv | A popshuv is when the board is popped into the air and then the nose is rotated around to become the tail. The shuv describes the motion as it looks like the back foot shuvs the tail. A popshuv is combined with other flip tricks like the kickflip or heelflip to expand the base of tricks into the next tier of combinations. So learning this essential trick is important and is often the first trick a skater learns. |
| Powerslide | A powerslide is when a skater leans back but pushes forward with their weight to make the wheels of the board skid perpendicular to the motion. Think of how a surfer carves up a wave and makes a splash or a biker who swooshes around their back tire to stop. Powerslides help skaters slow down without taking their foot off the board. |
| Primo | A primo is when a skater props their skateboard up to its side so they can stand on the side of the wheels with the other side of the wheels on the ground. Made famous by Rodney Mullen, you can watch our video below for a detailed tutorial! |
| Rails (referring to board) | Rails on the bottom of a skateboard are plastic 'rails' that go under the board to help with slides. Originated in the 80s and generally reserved for shaped boards, like fishboards. |
| Regular | Regular is the term used for the skater skates with their left foot forward. |
| Skitch | Skitching is referred to when a skater holds onto a moving car or bus. This is very dangerous and the top 3 reasons a skater ends up in the hospital. |
| Slappy | A slappy is when a skater rides up the face of a curb and grinds or slides a distance. More common in aging skaters but considered one of the most fun tricks. |
| Slammed | Slammed is to fall especially hard, generally unable to slow down your fall in any way and resulting in you not being able to bail or prepare for impact. |
| Slide | Slide is the term that describes when the deck of your board 'slides' on an obstacle, generally on a rail, ledge or coping. A slide will often be accompanied by another part of the board, as in nose slide, tail slide or a board slide. Noseslide for when your nose is on the obstacle and so on. |
| Slipped Out | Slipped out is when a skateboarder is attempting a slide or a grind and 'slips out' instead of locking into the trick and often leads to a bail. |
| Smith Grind | A Smith grind is like a twist on the regular 50-50 grind. Instead of grinding with both trucks, you only use one. You gotta hit the rail at just the right angle to make it happen. |
| Stall | A stall is when you are 'stalled' on the coping of a quarter pipe, essentially you're 'stalled' in a slide or a grind. Stall tricks will also be referred to as 'lip tricks' as you will see below. |
| Steezy | Steezy is another adjective used to describe someone's style. Steezy skaters usually dress with great fashion and land buttery tricks. |
| Stuck It | Stuck it is a term used when a skater lands on their board while attempting to perform a trick but even though they 'stuck' the trick, they fell. A skater will generally stick or stuck the trick a few times before landing it, so don't give up! |
| Switch | Switch is the term for when a skater performs a trick but with the other foot forward, as in if you're naturally a goofy skater but you perform the trick regular. This is like someone who is right handed begins writing with their left hand instead. Some skaters will be better at skating switch than others but most skaters will learn some switch skating to increase their bag of tricks. |
| Tail | The tail of the board is the back of the skateboard deck where your back foot pops off the ground to produce an ollie. Tails are generally flatter to be closer to the ground for faster pop. |
| To Fakie | When a skater lands "to fakie," they are landing with their bodies 'backwards' but with their momentum continuing forward and their back foot now landing on the front of the board as the new front foot. Landing 'to fakie' is generally produced when a 180 is added out of a stall or a slide. As in a tail slide to fakie or blunt stall to fakie. |
| Toe Drag | A toe drag is when a skater is performing a trick and their foot lands poorly on the board producing a toe drag on the ground. During a game of skate, this will be a redo. During a game of skate, this produces a redo and often when filming a trick, a skater will want to redo it as well. |
| Trick Tip | A trick tip is when someone gives you advice or a tutorial on how to do a trick. Trick tips are how skaters will teach other skaters new tricks. |
| Trucks | The trucks are the metal facets beneath the skateboard connected to the deck by 8 screws with two wheels on its axles. Trucks come in multiple sizes but the most common are 139s and 149s. |
| Washers | Washers are little metal rings that go on the end of the truck axles to reduce friction from the wheels and bearings. Skateboards also have larger washers on the top and bottom of the kingpin to reduce wear on bushings. |
Top 55 Skateboard Culture Lingo
Skateboarding culture is one of the most beautiful aspects about skateboarding. It’s what invites us in to be one of the crew and contribute to something we love. But it can be tricky for the newcomer to have a seat at the table when it comes to talking about skating.
Well, that is until now. Enjoy!
Top 55 Skateboard Culture Lingo
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ABD | Abbreviation for 'Already Been Done' - a term skaters use to compare what other skaters have filmed at skate spots. Skaters, especially pros, want to avoid doing the same tricks as others as it can be seen as disrespectful. |
| Banger/Ender | The last trick in a video part, usually the best. It ends the part with a bang and features the hardest trick the skater had to land. It will always be an NBD as well. |
| Bag of Tricks | The tricks a skater has learned they can produce relatively consistently, especially in games of skate. Skaters become adept at certain tricks and styles. |
| Bolts | When a skater lands directly on the bolts of their skateboard (connecting the trucks to the deck), considered the best way to land. "She landed bolts!" |
| Clips | When a skater films a trick in the streets for their compilation which will produce their video part or sponsor me video. Skaters 'stack clips' until they have enough footage. |
| Complete Skateboard | Refers to an entire skateboard (deck, trucks, wheels, etc.) versus just individual components. Many skate shops sell complete skateboards at a discount. |
| Contest Skater | A skater known for doing well in contests and generally focused on contests versus other areas of skateboarding (e.g., Nyjah Huston, Tony Hawk). |
| Core Brand | A brand owned and operated by skateboarders (e.g., WKND skateboards) as opposed to large corporations like Nike. |
| Core Skater | A skateboarder most focused on having fun on a skateboard without certain professional goals, or pros who focus on producing street video parts. |
| Cover | Refers to landing the cover of a skate magazine, especially Thrasher Magazine - a mark of honor for landing one of the hardest tricks that month. |
| Cutty | Description of a skate spot or park with weathered obstacles or constructed by brute architecture (e.g., big cracks in sidewalk or crusty asphalt). |
| DIY | Stands for 'Do It Yourself' - refers to skate spots constructed by skaters using cinder blocks, rails, cement, etc., often in hidden locations. |
| Filmer | Someone documenting skate sessions or producing skate videos. Filmers are some of the most important and creative people in skateboarding. |
| Fish Eye | A wide-angle lens that creates a bulb-like effect on clips/photos, with distorted edges like looking through a fishbowl. Popular in skate filming.  |
| Footage | What skaters call their collection of filmed clips. "How much footage did you get?" is a common question from sponsors. |
| Freshy | When a skateboarder has a fresh deck to skate they will "set up a freshy." |
| Full Length | A skate video produced by a company/brand combining video parts from their team riders. Essential for understanding skateboarding history. |
| Game of Skate | The most common game skaters play to improve flat-ground skills (similar to H.O.R.S.E. in basketball). Players attempt to match each other's tricks. |
| Getting Robbed | When you stick a trick (even landing bolts) but for some reason don't land it. Frustrating but often joked about. |
| Goon | A local at a skatepark who spends time on antics/shenanigans rather than serious skating, but often beloved by locals. |
| Grom | Term for a child skateboarder, not inherently positive or negative. Groms can sometimes be "snakes" at skateparks. |
| Hesh | Description of a skater or trick with punk origins - someone wearing ripped pants, leather jacket, doing 80s-style tricks. |
| Hessian | Someone dedicated to being hesh (old-school or punk-style skateboarding). Loves skating pools, and big boards. |
| Kook | Someone acting foolish at a skatepark/spot or doing something outside normal skate culture. |
| Last Part | The final part in a full-length video, reserved for the best skater who went hardest during filming. Creates skate legends. |
| Line | A sequence of tricks performed in one continuous clip (e.g., ollie down stairs, grind a ledge, then handrail). |
| Local Park | A skater's regular skatepark, serving as a training facility and community hub for art and local media. |
| Long Lens | Filming without a fisheye lens. Single tricks are usually filmed long lens while lines use fisheyes. |
| Mall Grab | Holding the board incorrectly (by the front truck instead of the deck) - considered uncool in skate culture. |
| NBD | Abbreviation for 'Never Been Done' - when a skater lands a new trick on a street spot, helping progress the sport. |
| Olympics | Refers to skateboarding's inclusion in the Olympics, a major topic of debate in the skate community. |
| Opener | The first trick in a skate part that sets the tone, or the opening part in a video (often introducing new riders). |
| Pay-To-Skate | Skateparks or ramps that cost money to use, controversial as many believe skateboarding should be free. |
| Plaza | An open space with multiple skateable obstacles (ledges, manual pads, handrails). LOVE Park was the most famous example.  |
| Poser | Someone who acts/dresses like a skater but doesn't actually skate. |
| Rail Skater | A skater who specializes in grinding rails, often brave enough for 10-20 stair handrails. |
| Rebate | When a skater asks their filmer for another try after a sketchy landing or interrupted run. "Can I get a rebate on that?" |
| Ripper | A compliment meaning someone is highly skilled. "That girl rips!" |
| Shred | Means "let's go skate!" Common phrases: "Shred the gnar!" (skate difficult obstacles). |
| Skate Rat | Someone who loves skateboarding and fully embraces the street lifestyle. |
| Skate Spot | A street obstacle that regularly attracts skaters, could be a single feature or multiple (like a plaza). |
| Sketchy | Describes a trick landed uncleanly, usually with heel/toe drag. |
| Single Trick | One difficult trick filmed by itself (often down big stair sets or gaps) rather than in a line. |
| Snake | Someone who cuts in line or gets in the way at a skatepark, usually new skaters unaware of etiquette. |
| Social Media Skater | A skater focused on producing content for social media, sometimes looked down upon but successful in their niche. |
| Solo Part | A video part released individually by a brand, not part of a full-length video with other skaters. |
| Sponsor Me Tape | Video amateurs send to brands hoping to get sponsored (formerly VHS tapes, now digital). A rite of passage. |
| Streets | Skating obstacles not designed for skating (as opposed to skateparks) - considered skateboarding's purest form. |
| T-Dog | Short for "trend dog" - someone skating just to follow trends. |
| Tech Skater | A skater specializing in technical tricks (ledges, manuals) rather than big obstacles. |
| Transition Skater | A skater who prefers ramps, bowls, and other transition obstacles rather than street spots. |
| Video Part | A pro skater's collection of clips for their brand, the primary way skaters express themselves professionally. |
| VX | The Sony VX1000 camera, legendary in skate filming for its distinctive look despite being outdated. |
| YouTube Skater | Skaters producing vlogs or trick tips for YouTube, important for introducing new people to skateboarding. |
Top 42 Skateboard Obstacle Lingo
Obstacle lingo can be one of the hardest terminologies to learn for skateboarding. While so many obstacles were invented by skaters with obscure terms, you’ll be pleased to learn many are rather simple and intuitive. Well, you can be the judge!
Ledge: A ledge is an obstacle that looks like a bench or something you would normally sit on. It can also be a ledge that is higher than something you would sit on but it’s generally characterized by its 90 degree angle, hence the ‘ledge’ name and the ability to lock into grinds and slides.
Manny Pad: A manny pad is short for manual pad for the manual trick in skateboarding. A manny pad requires a skater to ollie onto and has a finite end, hence the ‘pad’ adjective. Tech skaters love manny pads and ledges.
Rail: A rail is what you find going down a stair set, what bystanders call a handrail. But in skateboarding a rail can come in many forms, as you will see below.
Handrail: A handrail is specifically when a rail goes down a set of stairs and is found in the streets.
Steep Rail: A rail is steep when it’s down a large set of steps versus other rails like flatbars.
Flatbar: A flatbar is a rail that is horizontal and does not generally go downward steeply like handrails found on stair sets.
Box: A box is generally a constructed obstacle that combines a ledge with a manual pad. It’s basically large enough width wise to perform manual tricks with coping on both sides of the box for two ledges. Many skateparks will feature boxes.
Vert: Vert is a description for the ‘vertical walls’ half pipes and larger ramps that a skater must launch off of to skate.
Coping: Coping is a term to describe the grantable part of a quarter pipe, pool, bowl or mini ramp. Often they are metal rails for better grinds and slides.
Pool Coping: Pool coping is a coping all on its own as it is made of cement and has brick like attributes.
Lip: The lip of a ramp is also referring to the coping or when the ramp essentially ends. This allows skaters to do lip tricks in the form of stalls.
Transition: Transition is the term used to describe the part of a ramp or obstacle that goes from flat to vert – think of the curvature in a vert ramp before it goes straight vertical. Skaters who enjoy skating transition are usually park skaters or vert skaters who skate skateparks more than street.
Extension: An extension is a raised or lifted part of the ramp that ‘extends’ a few more feet higher. Often a mini ramp will have transition and then a single extension with vertical walls for those gnarly skaters.
Tombstone: When an extension is thin or just in a small spot on the ramp, it will be referred to as a tombstone.
Deathbox: A deathbox is that little box under pool coping where the chlorine normally filters out from. Grinding over these is often sketchy as your wheel can get stuck inside. Hence the attached term death.
Shootout Ledge/Rail: A shootout ledge or a shootout rail is a description for when a rail does not go steeply down the stair set but instead extends outwards maintaining its original height.
Quarter Pipe: A quarter pipe is a ‘quarter’ because it’s a quarter of a full circle. Imagine a ramp built on this aspect ratio and since it can stand alone anywhere, it’s singled out as a quarter pipe. If they are combined face to face, that is the beginning of a mini ramp.
Mini Ramp: A mini ramp is when two or more quarter pipes are facing one another for a continual carving of up and down. Mini ramps are considered one of the most fun things to skate in skateboarding once you learn how to drop in.
Half Pipe: Taking from the understanding that a quarter pipe is a quarter of a full circle, a halfpipe is one half of a circle. While two quarter pipes are also half a circle a vert ramp is different because it has vertical walls well above the transitional period found in mini ramps. These 2-3 foot of vert walls make an extreme difference in the skill needed to skate these ramps. These are the ramps Tony Hawk and others made a household term.
Launch Ramp: A launch ramp is almost like a quarter pipe but its lip is more of a launching outward for airing out of the ramp and not skating back in like you would on a quarter pipe or mini ramp.
Ramp: A ramp can be any slope or triangle like object that produces downhill or launch capable skateboarding.
Step–Up: A step up appears as a ramp that had it’s top section taken out prior to the landing area up top, so a skater must perform an ollie before reaching the top.
Euro–Gap:The step up is believed to be originally from European contests and is homaged by this fact by being called a euro-gap.
Roll In: A roll in is a special part of the ramp that instead of following the vertical walls curls over the lip of the ramp to allow the skater to ‘roll in’ to the ramp instead of drop in.
Drop In: A drop in is how a skater enters a bowl, pool, mini ramp, quarter pipe or obstacle by positioning their tail on the lip of the obstacle and with their weight leaning forward, ‘drops in’ to the ramp and rides away.
Spine: A spine is when two quarter pipes are pressed back to back with their coping attached in the middle. These are incredibly difficult obstacles for any beginner skateboard rider.
Bowl: A bowl is a transition obstacle where there is no side of the ramp unconnected. Picture the bowl you use for cereal, now put your tech deck inside it and imagine that you are skating.
Double set: A double set is referred to when two sets of stairs are separated by a flat zone but skaters still skate the entire obstacle. Imagine two sets of 3 stairs with a flat zone in between but the skater ollies over the flat surface and over all six stairs.
2 flat 2, 3 flat 3, etc: These numbers are used to describe double sets or triple sets with the number of stairs separated by the flat surface.
Triple Set: 3 sets of stairs with 2 flat surfaces in-between.
A Frame: An A-frame is when a rail or ledge is ascending and then connected by its descending mirror obstacle. Or it came be two ramps (without the curvature of a quarter pipe) to be connected in mirror as well.
Fun box: A fun box is when ledges, rails, ramps and boxes are combined into unique obstacles usually seen in contests.
Kink Rail: A kink rail is a rail that has a ‘kink’ in it or essentially after going down steeply ‘kinks’ out flat. Nyjah Huston is famous for skating these.
Round Rail: A round rail is a description of when the rail is round. Some skaters will prefer a round rail over a flat rail depending on what tricks they are doing. However, round rails are generally more used in skatepark construction and larger contests.
Flat Rail: A flat rail is a description for when the rail is flat. While plenty of flat rails can be found in the streets, the harsher angles of flat rails are not favored by skatepark creators. Also, since most transition coping is generally round rails, skaters don’t mind if flat rails are used in other instances, even if more rare.
Run Up: A run up is referring to the space or runway of a skate spot. “That spot had a really short run up.”
Thread the Needle: When a skater ‘threads the needle’ the obstacle they are skating requires them to skate through something narrow or down a very specific run up. “She really thread the needle on that one.”
Bump to Bar: A Bump to bar is when a ramp is preceded by a rail that is perpendicular to the ramp, causing the skater to have to pop over the rail. This is commonly referred to as a “Handicap Rail” since handicap ramps are constructed as bump to rails.
“Over the Rail:” Over the rail is a term for when a skater skates ‘over the rail’ instead of grinding or sliding down the rail. Often a skater will skate over a rail into a bank or down a gap.
Bank: A bank is referred to when a slope is flat and produces an angle skaters can skate up and perform an aerial maneuver. Banks are different from ramps as you always land back into a bank and a bank is derived from street spots found in the wild.
Bank to Ledge: A bank to ledge is when a ledge sits on top of a bank and a skater can ollie or flip into the bank to then slide or grind the ledge. In the streets, a skater will often put a bench on top of a bank to create a bank to ledge.
Gap: A gap is used to describe when a skater clears over an obstacle from point A to point B. Generally, the skaters go from a higher point to a lower point across a gap’. It’s the same as a stair set but without the stairs. Imagine a skater doing an ollie from one parking lot to another parking lot with grass or dirt separating the two parking lots. The middle zone the skater ollies is the gap.
Gap to Rail: A gap to rail is a term in reference to when a skater has to ollie across a gap before hitting the rail. Instead of a skater being able to ollie close to the rail, they have to gap out several feet before grinding or sliding the rail.
Did We Miss a Term?
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