Jiu-Jitsu glossary: 40 terms every beginner needs to know

Anyone who steps on the mat for the first time, or watches a tournament without ever having trained, hears a language of its own. The coach says to recover guard, the commentator calls a sweep, someone says the match was decided by an advantage. This glossary covers 40 terms, split into four groups, so you can follow a class or a broadcast without getting lost.

Positions

• Guard: the position in which the athlete is on the bottom, on his back or seated, and uses his legs to control the opponent. It is the trademark of Jiu-Jitsu: you can attack from the bottom.
• Closed guard: a guard with the legs crossed around the opponent’s waist.
• Open guard: any guard in which the legs are not crossed behind the opponent. There are dozens of variations.
• Half guard: the bottom athlete traps only one of the opponent’s legs between his own.
• Side control: control from the side, chest on chest, after passing the guard.
• Mount: the athlete sits on the opponent’s torso, with his knees on the mat.
• Knee on belly: control with one knee on the opponent’s stomach and the other leg out for balance.
• Back mount: control from the opponent’s back, with both feet hooked between his thighs.
• North-south: top control in which the two athletes face opposite directions, head to head.
• Turtle: a defensive position in which the athlete curls up on his knees and elbows.

Movements

• Takedown: taking the opponent from standing to the mat and ending up on top.
• Guard pull: sitting or jumping to start the match from the bottom, without trying to take the opponent down.
• Sweep: reversing the position from guard: the athlete on the bottom ends up on top.
• Guard pass: getting past the bottom athlete’s legs and reaching a control position, such as side control.
• Guard recovery: putting the legs back in front of the opponent when he is close to passing.
• Hip escape: the basic movement of shifting the hips on the mat to create space and escape. Also called shrimping.
• Bridge: lifting the hips hard to unbalance the athlete on top. Brazilians also call it “upa.”
• Grip: where the athlete holds the opponent: collar, sleeve, pants or body.
• Submission: a hold that forces the opponent to give up. It ends the match on the spot.
• Tap: tapping the opponent or the mat to signal that you give up.

Submissions

• Rear-naked choke: a choke from the back, with the arm around the neck. In Brazil it is called “mata-leão,” the lion killer.
• Triangle: a choke applied with the legs, which trap the opponent’s neck and one arm.
• Armbar: an attack that extends the opponent’s elbow past its limit.
• Kimura: a shoulder lock in which the opponent’s arm is bent behind his back. Named after Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura.
• Americana: a shoulder lock similar to the kimura, but with the arm bent upward.
• Omoplata: a shoulder lock applied with the legs.
• Guillotine: a front choke, with the arm around the opponent’s neck.
• Ezekiel: a choke that uses the sleeve of your own gi.
• Cross collar choke: a choke applied with both hands on the opponent’s collar.
• Foot lock: an attack on the opponent’s ankle. The straight version is legal for adults from white belt.

Not every move is legal at every belt. The full list is in the guide to illegal moves by belt.

Rules and academy terms

• Advantage: a mark given when the athlete almost scores or almost submits. It works as a tie-breaker.
• Penalty: a mark against the athlete who commits a foul, such as running from the fight or stalling.
• Stalling: holding the opponent without trying to advance, just to let the clock run.
• Absolute: the division with no weight limit, open to athletes of all sizes. Also called the open class.
• Stripe: a mark placed on the tip of the belt that shows progress within each color. Brazilians call it a “grau,” or degree.
• No-gi: the format contested in shorts and a rash guard, without grips on the cloth.
• Roll: live sparring between two students at the academy.
• Lapel: the lower part of the gi collar, used for grips and in some guards.
• Casca-grossa: Brazilian slang for a tough fighter who is hard to beat. Literally, “thick skin.”
• Oss: a greeting used on the mat, inherited from Japanese martial arts.

Keep learning

After the vocabulary, the next step is understanding how a match is scored. VF Comunica has guides to Jiu-Jitsu scoring, match length, the absolute and the differences between gi and no-gi.

Which Jiu-Jitsu term took you the longest to understand? Tell us in the comments.