Cyberpunk Slang Glossary: Choom, Gonk, Preem, Eddies, Chrome and 59 More Terms

Genre words from the novels#

These come from the books, before any game used them. Dates are first use in print. Each entry ends with a line of how it sounds in a bar.

• Cyberpunk: The genre itself. Coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of a story written in 1980 and printed in 1983. Use it for the genre, not the games. Street use: "⁠It's not a cyberpunk story if the bad guy doesn't own the building.⁠"
• Cyberspace: A computer network you can move through as if it were a place. First used in William Gibson's 1982 story 'Burning Chrome'. Fans use it for any virtual space you jack into. Street use: "⁠He's been in cyberspace so long his coffee grew a skin.⁠"
• Jacking in: Plugging your nervous system into the network. Introduced in 'Burning Chrome' and popularized by Neuromancer (1984). Netrunners say it before a dive. Street use: "⁠Give me ten minutes, then I'm jacking in. Don't touch me.⁠"
• ICE: Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics: the security software a hacker has to break through. Popularized by Neuromancer. Netrunners talk about cracking or frying it. Street use: "⁠Their ICE is old. Old ICE bites back, but it bites slow.⁠"
• Console cowboy: Neuromancer's name for a hacker. Case is one before he is burned. Old-school; the games say netrunner. Street use: "⁠My uncle was a console cowboy. Now he sells noodles.⁠"
• Razorgirl: An augmented mercenary, as Molly is in Neuromancer. Use it for a street samurai with blades in her hands. Street use: "⁠The razorgirl at the door? Don't look at her hands. Look at her face. Smile.⁠"
• The matrix: Gibson's word for the three-dimensional space of the network, taken up by later authors. In the games the word is the Net. Street use: "⁠Say matrix in a Night City bar and somebody will correct you. Politely, once.⁠"
• Flatlining: To kill someone, or to die. In Neuromancer, the Dixie Flatline is a dead hacker's recorded personality, and flatlining is one of the motifs the novel popularized. In play it means a kill or a death. Street use: "⁠Three guys flatlined on that job. Guess who's still waiting on his cut.⁠"
• The Sprawl: Gibson's name for the urban megalopolis in Neuromancer and its sequels. The setting first appeared in 'Burning Chrome'. Fans use it for any sprawling cyberpunk city. Street use: "⁠Out past the Sprawl edge the lights give up.⁠"
• Gibson: A prophet or someone with strong foresight, named after William Gibson. Said of a person who called the future right. Street use: "⁠Ask Mika. She called the Arasaka move in March. She's a damn Gibson.⁠"

Roles#

The ten roles are in Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk RED (see the Cyberpunk RED roles page). Cyberpunk 2077 uses a few of them as lifepaths and play styles. Where a role changed name between 2020 and RED, the entry says so.

• Edgerunner: Someone who lives on the Edge, a cyberpunk who works outside the law against the corporations. The term comes from the 2020-era Night City sourcebook, and Studio Trigger's anime took it as its title. Say it for any freelance merc. Street use: "⁠Edgerunners don't retire. They get a nice funeral if the crew likes them.⁠"
• Netrunner: A hacker with a neural interface. A role in 2020 and RED, and one of the two main play styles in 2077. Lucy is the one in Edgerunners. Street use: "⁠We need a netrunner on that door, and a good one. Not your cousin.⁠"
• Solo: Hired gun, bodyguard, assassin. A role in 2020 and RED, and the other main play style in 2077. Fixers hire them. Street use: "⁠Hire a solo, not a gonk with a gun. There's a difference, and it's your life.⁠"
• Fixer: The middleman who connects clients with mercs and takes a cut. A role in 2020 and RED. Dex and Rogue are fixers in 2077. Street use: "⁠Call my fixer. Don't call me. My fixer takes ten percent of the lies.⁠"
• Rockerboy: A rebel musician. Called Rocker in RED. Johnny Silverhand is the standard example. Street use: "⁠Saw a rockerboy hit a corpo with his own guitar once. Best set of the year.⁠"
• Nomad: A road warrior from a traveling clan. A role in 2020 and RED, and one of V's three lifepaths in 2077. Say it for anyone who lives on wheels. Street use: "⁠Nomads don't ask permission to cross a county line. They bring a cousin.⁠"
• Tech (techie): The technician who builds and repairs gear. Called Techie in 2020 and Tech in RED. Say it for whoever keeps the vehicles and guns running. Street use: "⁠Be nice to the tech. The tech decides if your car starts.⁠"
• Medtech: Medic. A role in 2020 and RED. Not the same as a ripperdoc, who installs chrome. Street use: "⁠Get a medtech first. Chrome can wait. Bleeding can't.⁠"
• Media: A journalist or reporter. A role in 2020 and RED. Used for anyone who sells the story. Street use: "⁠The media kid has your name and a camera. Be nice or be famous.⁠"
• Lawman (cop): A police officer or agent. Cop in 2020, Lawman in RED. Cops are called NCPD in Night City. Street use: "⁠If NCPD shows, you walk. If NCPD smiles, you run.⁠"
• Corpo: A corporate worker. Called Corporate in 2020 and Exec in RED, and one of V's three lifepaths in 2077. Usually said with a sneer. Street use: "⁠Corpo boots on my street. Nobody sell them anything.⁠"
• Streetkid: V's street-born lifepath in 2077. Use it for anyone who grew up in the gutter, like David. Street use: "⁠Streetkid knows three exits to every room. Corpo knows one: the front.⁠"
• Ripperdoc: A medical technician who installs cyberware. A character in Edgerunners is called Doc. You go to one when you want chrome, not a hospital. Street use: "⁠Cheap ripperdoc, cheap arm. Pick which one you can live with.⁠"

Money, gear and tech#

Editions mix here. The money and Humanity terms come from the tabletop games (2020 and RED), and the quickhack, Mantis Blades, Relic and Mikoshi terms come from Cyberpunk 2077. Each entry says which when it matters.

• Eddies: Eurodollars, the standard currency. 'Ebucks' is the 2020s form and 'eddies' the 2070s form. Say eddies in a 2077 game, ebucks in 2020. Street use: "⁠Fifty eddies for the ride, and I'm being nice.⁠"
• Cyberware: Cybernetic technology grafted into the body. In the tabletop rules (2020), installing it costs Humanity. The generic word for any implant. Street use: "⁠Cyberware doesn't make you better. It makes you faster at being you.⁠"
• Chrome: Slang for cyberware. 'Chromed' and 'chipped' mean fitted with it. A fixer says 'she's heavy on chrome'. Street use: "⁠He's more chrome than man. Pay him before the warranty runs out.⁠"
• Chrome jock: Someone with a notable or excessive amount of cyberware. A mild insult for a bragging ganger. Street use: "⁠Chrome jock thinks the arm makes him tough. The arm is on a payment plan.⁠"
• 'Borg: A full-body cyborg conversion. Adam Smasher is the textbook case. Said with respect or fear. Street use: "⁠That's a 'borg. Walk slow. Say please.⁠"
• Cyberdeck: The hacker's portable computer, also called a deck or cybermodem. The cybermodem's invention is dated to 2005 in the 2020 timeline. Every netrunner owns one. Street use: "⁠My deck is older than you and twice as smart.⁠"
• Braindance: A recording of someone's memory and sensations that others can play back. The 2020-era timeline dates its invention to 2007, and it is a central mechanic in 2077. Used for entertainment and for evidence. Street use: "⁠Watch the braindance before you take the job. The client's memory is not the truth.⁠"
• Cyberpsychosis: Mental breakdown from too much cyberware. In the tabletop rules (2020), an Empathy of zero. In 2077 it is what MaxTac is for. Street use: "⁠He stopped sleeping, stopped talking, started counting. Don't wait for the rest. Call it cyberpsychosis and run.⁠"
• Humanity and Empathy: The tabletop stats (2020) that track what cyberware costs you. Every ten points of Humanity Cost loses a point of Empathy. Used by players when they negotiate how much chrome is too much. Street use: "⁠My Empathy is gone. Don't worry about it. My cat left too.⁠"
• Lifepath: The character-background system. In RED it only affects roleplay, not stats. 2077 reuses the word for V's starting choice. Street use: "⁠Your lifepath is your first lie. Make it a good one.⁠"
• Quickhack: Also called 'programs'. An equipment type in the video game (2077). A netrunner fires one at a target. Street use: "⁠One quickhack, and the guard forgot why he was holding a gun.⁠"
• Sandevistan: A cyberware operating system from 2077 that was featured in Edgerunners. David's is the most famous one. Say it for the speed implant. Street use: "⁠Don't race him. He has a Sandevistan, he'll be done before you start.⁠"
• Mantis Blades: Arm cyberware from 2077. The blades fold out of the forearms. Street use: "⁠Mantis Blades are a bad idea at a wedding. Good idea at a divorce.⁠"
• Soulkiller: A program written by Alt Cunningham that Arasaka later stole. In 2077, it transfers a mind into cyberspace but destroys the brain. Arasaka's dirtiest tool. Street use: "⁠Don't sign. Don't let them near. Soulkiller doesn't leave a body, just a file.⁠"
• Relic: An Arasaka biochip that stores a digitized human mind as an engram. The chip in V's head in 2077. Street use: "⁠A Relic's a death sentence with a user manual.⁠"
• Mikoshi: Arasaka's cyberspace infrastructure that holds digital minds (2077). Where the stored souls sit. Street use: "⁠They say your grandmother's in Mikoshi. They say a lot of things.⁠"
• Blackwall: The barrier in the Net in Cyberpunk 2077. Netrunners say it keeps the rogue AIs out. Street use: "⁠Blackwall's the only wall in the world with a bad reputation on both sides.⁠"

Places, groups and events#

Afterlife, Maelstrom and Trauma Team are present across the editions. The DataKrash, the Time of the Red and the Night City Holocaust are the RED-era timeline events.

• Afterlife: A Night City club known for its merc clientele. Where fixers hand out jobs. Street use: "⁠Meet me at the Afterlife. Bring cash and a good story.⁠"
• Maelstrom: A cyberware-obsessed gang. Appears in 2020, RED and 2077. Say it when you mean the chrome-mad boostergang. Street use: "⁠Wrong alley, wrong night. Maelstrom owns the dark there.⁠"
• Trauma Team: A paramedic corporation that bills patients from the moment it is called. Said as a warning: you need a card first. Street use: "⁠No card, no ambulance. That's Trauma Team's whole business plan.⁠"
• DataKrash: The event that destroyed the old Net, released by Rache Bartmoss's dead man switch (RED era). Why the Net is walled off. Street use: "⁠Before the DataKrash, you could ping the moon. Now you ping your landlord.⁠"
• Time of the Red: The years after the Night City nuke when the sky was stained red, and the setting year of Cyberpunk RED. Said of the years after the 2023 blast. Street use: "⁠My mother grew up in the Time of the Red. She still sleeps with the lights on.⁠"
• Night City Holocaust: The 2023 nuclear blast in the Arasaka Towers that ended the Fourth Corporate War (RED era). Said by anyone who lived through it or heard of it. Street use: "⁠My grandmother never says holocaust. She says the day the sky went red, then changes the subject.⁠"

Street slang#

This vocabulary is shared across 2020, RED and 2077. The word lists do not say which book coined each term, so no single edition is claimed per entry.

• Choom: A friend or family member; also choomba and chombatta. Judy Alvarez says 'choomba' in 2077. Say it to a friend or an ally. Street use: "⁠Choom, I owe you one. No, two. Don't tell my fixer.⁠"
• Gonk: An idiot, or a bad idea: a gonk move. Negative. Say it about someone who gets a crew killed. Street use: "⁠Walking in the front door? That's a gonk move, choom.⁠"
• Preem: Cool or excellent; short for premium. Say it about good gear or a good job. Street use: "⁠Preem rifle. Preem price too, so keep your hands off it.⁠"
• Nova: Cool, awesome. Interchangeable with preem. Use it for something impressive. Street use: "⁠That jump off the overpass? Nova. Stupid, but nova.⁠"
• Delta: To leave. Say 'time to delta' when a job turns bad. Street use: "⁠Guard's awake, alarm's live. Time to delta.⁠"
• Pansy: A single well drink or beer on tap. Order it at a bar when you are broke. Street use: "⁠One pansy for me, one for my wallet. It needs the sympathy.⁠"
• Ganger and boostergang: A ganger is a gangster. A booster is a gang member who goes in for cyberware, leather and random violence. Maelstrom is the boostergang you hear about most. Street use: "⁠That's not one ganger, that's a whole boostergang with new rifles. Take the other street.⁠"
• Dorph: Short for synthetic endorphin, a street drug for healing and fatigue. 'Dorphhead' is an addict. Merc crews know which dealers carry it. Street use: "⁠Two dorphs, then a nap. Three, and you're a dorphhead.⁠"
• Black Lace: A stronger designer drug than dorph. A step up, and a worse habit. Street use: "⁠Dorph is for Friday night. Black Lace is what you buy when dorph stops working.⁠"
• Deckhead: A netrunner, said with a slight edge. Street use: "⁠Ask the deckhead. He's the one in the corner who hasn't blinked in an hour.⁠"
• Hexed: Suffering cyberpsychosis, or obsessed with the Net. Said of someone coming apart. Street use: "⁠Keep him off the deck. He's hexed, he talks to the screen like it answers.⁠"
• Haze: To double-cross or betray. Say it about a client who stiffed the crew. Street use: "⁠The client hazed us. Now the client is our problem.⁠"
• Handle: A nickname you go by on the street. Everyone in the trade has one. Street use: "⁠Real name's a rumor. Handle's what I answer to.⁠"
• Doll: A person with dissociative cyberware that lets a blank persona run their body and wipes their memory afterward. Dolls are mostly seen in the sex industry in 2077. Street use: "⁠Treat a doll like a person. Their handler won't, so you have to.⁠"
• Brain potato: A braindance addict. Street use: "⁠She's a brain potato now. Fourteen hours a day, same dance.⁠"
• Beaver: A derogatory name for suburbanites from corporate neighborhoods, after the 1950s TV series Leave It to Beaver. Said by street people about corporate kids. Street use: "⁠Beaver came down to the market in a white jacket. Twenty minutes later, no jacket.⁠"
• Fodder: Fixer slang for solos. Said behind their backs. Street use: "⁠I need four fodder for the Kabuki job. Two good ones, two for the first door.⁠"
• Ghost off: To disappear. Say it when someone quits the city or the trade. Street use: "⁠Marta ghosted off after the Kabuki job. Her landlord is still holding her mail.⁠"

Fixer's notes: using the slang#

Opinion: use two or three of these at a table, not twenty. Choom, eddies and chrome go further than a pile of obscure words. Common misconception: slang is not fixed. Different editions and different Night City blocks use words differently, so nobody gets to say you used one wrong. Say it like you mean it.

At a table running Cyberpunk RED, use the roles from the list above. For books that introduced the genre's vocabulary, see Neuromancer and the cyberpunk books page. For the look, see the cyberpunk aesthetic page.

For terms beyond slang, the lore glossary covers places, gangs and tech.