BJJ glossary
The language of Brazilian jiu-jitsu mixes English, Portuguese and Finnish, with the odd Japanese term too. Here are the most common terms a beginner meets at the gym.
General terms
- Open mat: an unsupervised training slot for free rolling and practice, often open to visitors from other clubs too.
- Rolling: light sparring where you try techniques against a moving partner.
- Drilling: repeating a technique with a partner to groove it.
- Tap: tapping your partner or the mat to end a grip immediately. The core safety signal.
- Gi: the traditional training uniform (jacket, trousers and belt). No-gi: training without the gi, in a rashguard and shorts.
- Oss: a common greeting and acknowledgement at the gym. Nobody can say for sure where the word comes from, there are plenty of stories, but oss is part of the culture.
Positions
- Guard: a position where the person on their back controls the opponent with their legs.
- Mount: a dominant position sitting on top of the opponent, knees on the floor.
- Side control: control from the opponent’s side.
- Back control: control from behind the opponent, often the strongest position.
- Sweep: a move that reverses you from bottom to top.
Finishes
- Submission: a grip that forces the opponent to tap. The two main types are chokes and joint locks.
- Choke: an air or blood choke, for example the rear naked choke.
- Armbar: a straight lock on the elbow joint.
- Triangle: a choke applied with the legs.