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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Glossary
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has its own vocabulary. If you're new — or just curious about what your coach is yelling — here's an A–Z reference.
- Armbar
- A submission that hyperextends the elbow joint by trapping the opponent's arm between your legs and bridging your hips.
- Back take
- The act of moving to your opponent's back and securing hooks (legs around their hips). The most dominant position in BJJ.
- Berimbolo
- A modern technique that inverts under the opponent from De La Riva guard to take the back.
- Bow and arrow choke
- A collar choke from back control that uses the legs to pull the opponent's body away from their trapped arm.
- Bridge
- A hip thrust used to create space or escape from bottom positions. Also called "upa."
- Closed guard
- Bottom position where you wrap your legs around your opponent's waist with ankles crossed.
- Cross-face
- Applying pressure to the opponent's face/jaw with your shoulder or forearm to control their head from side control.
- De La Riva guard
- An open guard where you hook one leg around the outside of your opponent's lead leg, named after Ricardo de la Riva.
- Drilling
- Repetition of a technique with a cooperative partner to build muscle memory.
- Ezekiel choke
- A choke applied from inside the closed guard or mount using a gi sleeve grip.
- Frame
- Using a straight arm or shin as a structural barrier between you and your opponent to create space.
- Gi
- The traditional cotton uniform — jacket, pants, and belt — worn in most BJJ classes.
- Granby roll
- A wrestling-derived escape where you roll over your shoulder to face your opponent again.
- Guard
- Any bottom position where your legs are between you and the top opponent. Many varieties (closed, open, half, spider, De La Riva, etc.).
- Guard pass
- Any technique used to move from inside the opponent's guard to a dominant top position like side control or mount.
- Half guard
- Bottom position where you trap one of your opponent's legs between your own.
- Heel hook
- A leg submission that rotates the opponent's heel to attack the knee. Banned at lower levels in many tournaments.
- Hooks
- Using the feet/heels inside the opponent's thighs from back control to maintain the position.
- Kimura
- A shoulder lock named after Masahiko Kimura that rotates the opponent's arm behind their back.
- Knee on belly
- A dominant top position where you place one knee on the opponent's torso for control and points.
- Lapel
- The flap of gi material running down the chest, used for grips, chokes, and modern lapel guards.
- Mount
- A dominant top position where you sit on your opponent's torso with both knees on the mat.
- No-gi
- BJJ practiced without the traditional uniform, typically in rash guard and shorts. Faster-paced and grip-free.
- Omoplata
- A shoulder lock applied with the legs by trapping the opponent's arm and threading your leg over their shoulder.
- Open guard
- Any bottom guard position where your ankles are not crossed around the opponent.
- Pass the guard
- Successfully moving past your opponent's legs to a dominant top position.
- Posting
- Placing a hand or foot on the ground for base and balance.
- Rear-naked choke
- The most common back-take submission — an arm around the neck applied from behind. Often abbreviated "RNC."
- Rolling
- Live, free-form sparring with a fully resisting partner. The training method that defines BJJ.
- Scramble
- A chaotic transition where neither person has clear position. Often decides who ends up on top.
- Shrimp
- A hip escape movement — pushing your hips backward to create space. Drilled in every warm-up.
- Side control
- A dominant top position perpendicular to the opponent, chest-to-chest, with their arm trapped.
- Sprawl
- A defensive movement that drops your hips and shoots your legs back to stop a takedown.
- Stripe
- A small piece of tape on the end of the belt indicating progress within a rank. Most belts have 4 stripes before promotion.
- Submission
- A choke or joint lock that forces the opponent to tap out. The end goal of BJJ matches.
- Sweep
- Any technique that reverses position from bottom to top.
- Tap
- Signaling submission by patting your opponent, the mat, or saying "tap." The fight stops immediately.
- Triangle choke
- A submission using the legs in a figure-four to choke one of the opponent's arms with their own neck.
- Turtle
- A defensive position on all fours, used to recover when someone has your back exposed.
- Underhook
- A control position with your arm under your opponent's armpit.
- Upa
- The bridge-and-roll escape from mount. The first escape every beginner learns.
- X-guard
- An open-guard position where you sit under your opponent with one leg between theirs and one leg around their hip.
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