Whether you’re new to archery or a more experienced archer, there’s so much archery lingo out there that it can sometimes feel like you’re listening to someone speak a foreign language. What makes this even more confusing is that many different archery terms vary in different parts of the country – and there are even more archery terms in other countries as well.

I mean really: Do you always gunch it when you grip it and rip it? Maybe you hit the sheet when you were trying to at least tomato in your last archery tournament. Or do you like having a hybrid as an axe?

See what I mean?

I’ve tried to collect a list of all of these different archery words and slang terms and put them together in one place. So here it is, the master list of all of the different archery specific words and their explanations.

Keep in mind that there are even more terms that are interchangeable in different areas or regions, I’ll try to keep this list updated with any other terms I come across or new terms I hear.

Almost: We’ll start the list with an obvious one. Almost is when an arrow hits the gold (or yellow) area (of a target archery) target – but isn’t within the innermost gold ring.

Archer’s Paradox: The archer’s paradox refers to the physics of archery, specifically when the arrow is released. It is the effect of how the arrow bends slightly around the bow when it leaves it.

Ax or Axe: For any guitar players out there, the meaning this one should have easily come to you. Just like a guitar player’s guitar, an axe is just another way to refer to an archer’s specific bow (as well as there individual set up).

Blackberry: A slang term for when an arrow hits the black area of a target. (Primarily used in both target archery and field archery.)

Blueberry: No real shocker here, a “blueberry” is when your arrow hits within the blue scoring area of an archery target. Again, mostly used in target archery as well as in field archery. If you’re interested, here’s a guide I wrote about getting started in field archery.

Bodkin Point: A bodkin point is an old medieval type of arrow point used hundreds of years ago. You’ll only really see this in historical collections or made by individual archers themselves, as they’re not widely used by many archers today. You can see what they look like here.

Bow Jitsu: Overly exerting your shooting form to compensate for your bow sight moving off from the center of your target right when the arrow is released.

Bowyer: A bowyer in an Old (or “Olde”) English term for a bow maker. It’s still in use today, although most people who aren’t archers probably wouldn’t know what one is.

Bracing: Have you ever strung or unstrung your bow? You my friend have then “braced” your bow. Bracing is simply a fancy way of describing someone attaching a bowstring to their bow.

Brace Height: A bow’s brace height is a measurement of the pivot point of your bow (or riser) to the bowstring.

Bucket Hatter: As an archer who prefers recurve bows myself, I’ll try not to take offense to this one. A “bucket hatter” is a slang term for a recurve archer.

Bullet: A bullet is just a fun way to refer to your arrows. Some crossbow shooters also call their crossbow bolts “bullets”.

Burn a Hole in the Yellow: To “burn a hole in the yellow”, you just keep your bow sight centered onto the innermost yellow scoring ring until you shoot your arrow. This is another term mainly used in target and field archery.

Cherry: Just like our other fruit based scoring terms above, “cherry” is another way of saying that your arrow hit the red area of a target archery or field archery target.

Chunk: A chunk is just when an archer takes a really bad shot, it’s sort of like the equivalent of “whiffed” in baseball or other sports. “Man that guy really chunked it on that one.”

Daikyu: A daikyu is a specific style of Japanese longbow, see also Yumi below.

Drive By: A “drive by” is when you let an arrow go while you’re moving your point of aim across the center area of a target.

Dry fire: Dry firing a bow is when someone draws a bow back to full draw and then releases the bowstring with no arrow involved. In case you’re a new archer reading this – Never dry fire a bow, seriously. Not only could it break the bow, it’s dangerous to you as well. Just don’t do it.

End: An end in a competition is way of splitting up tournaments into sections. Instead of saying how many “rounds” in a tournament, it’s how many “ends” are in it. Usually it will refer to how many arrows are shot in each end. Normally only used in target archery and field archery. Here’s a post I wrote all about how archery tournaments work, it covers target archery, field archery and more.

English: Just like when you’re shooting a game of pool, “English” is when you pull your bow arm towards what you’re shooting at, rather than aiming as you normally would. Some archers will do this to try to give the arrow some tweak towards the target.

Fat Shafter: A fat shafter is an arrow that has a larger than usual diameter. Some archers shoot fat shafters to increase their chance of their arrows hitting within a scoring ring that they wouldn’t have hit otherwise.

Flu Flu: Flu flus are a particular type of fletching that an arrow might have, other than the standard feathers or plastic vanes. These are used for hunting certain small animals and are referred to as flu flu arrows. You can see what they look like here.

Grip and Rip: A style of instinctive archery, grip and rip (or “grip it and rip it”) is when an archer just draws the bow and shoots – without traditionally aiming or thinking to much about it.

Hankyu: A hankyu is a traditional Japanese short bow, still shot by Japanese archers today.

Hog: A term in hunting that refers to a large or trophy size deer.

Hybrid: A hybrid is style of bow that has both the attributes of a longbow and a recurve bow. These are sometimes also called recurve longbows.

Gunch: Just like “chunk” above, gunch is another way of referring to a really bad shot. It has a more physical use, as if missing that shot really got to you.

Inside Out: When an arrow lands completely within a scoring ring without touching any of the lines on the target, it’s called hitting inside out.

Jar Licker: When an arrow lands in a way that it only slightly touches the line of a higher point value scoring ring. This means that the shot gets the higher scoring value.

Judo Point: Judo points are a trademarked term, as they’re only made by one manufacturer. These are specialty arrow points made for stump shooting. They keep the arrow from getting hidden under brush or leaves. Here’s a guide I wrote on everything you need to know about arrows.

Kentucky Windage: When you’re shooting in windy conditions, applying a little Kentucky windage may help you hit your target spot on. It refers to when an archer tilts their bow in a way that it’s either leaning to the right or the left, to compensate for the wind.

Kiss-Out: A kiss-out is when you shoot an arrow and it hits an arrow that you already shot (still embedded in the target), and that causes your arrow to land in a lower scoring area of the target. Your first shot “kissed-out” your second shot from landing in the higher scoring area.

Kyudo: Kyudo is the traditional Japanese art of archery.

Lincoln Logs: Just like fat shafters above, this is another way of referring to the arrows of larger than needed diameter shot by archers hoping that they might sneak into a higher scoring area of a target, just by hitting it’s line.

Line Cutter: Yet another term for using larger than needed diameter arrows in an attempt to increase their odds of hitting the line of a higher scoring area.

Mash the Gas: When you’re both pushing outwards with your bow arm while pulling back with your bowstring hand evenly throughout your shooting sequence is called mashing the gas.

Molly Whopped: When a hunter makes the best possible shot on their target they’ll often say that they molly whopped it.

Pin Wheel: When you release an arrow and it lands in the exact center of a target’s scoring ring. “Luckily, I pin wheeled the last target in the tournament.”

Petticoat: When an arrow hits the target, but it completely misses any of the scored area of that target, scoring no points at all. This is normally only in target and field archery, when an arrow lands in the outermost white area outside of the scored target.

Punch: When an archer quickly taps the trigger of an archery release aid, rather than slowly squeezing the trigger.

Peeker: In many scored forms of archery, once you draw your bow back to full draw, you have to shoot – or you don’t get the points. A peeker is when an archer draws back, then drops his bow down to get a second look at the target.

Poles: Another term for using larger than needed diameter arrows in an attempt to increase their odds of hitting the line of a higher scoring area.

Pluck: A pluck is when an archer is improperly shooting their bow with incorrect form and follow through. When the bowstring is in the first joint of the fingers and then the arrow is released with a jagged motion.

Prince’s Reckoning: When they are scoring your shots in a target archery competition, it’s often referred to as the prince’s reckoning. It’s another old term that comes from hundreds of years ago, when a real prince actually scored the competitors arrows.

Rig: Just like axe above, another way to refer to an archers bow and personal bow set up. “Dude, I that’s a pretty sweet rig.”

Robin Hood: A Robin Hood is when your arrow hits another arrow so perfectly that it splits the arrow that was already shot into the target. There were lots of “Robin Hoods” in those old movies, some of them were even shot by the guy himself.

Sandbagger: Sometimes in archery people will intentionally shoot poorly, so that they get put in a class or division that’s below their actual abilities as an archer. This is simply a way that some less than honest competitors try to go against weaker competition in order to win. Not cool.

Sheet: Unlike a petticoat above, a sheet is when an arrow lands in the white scoring area of a target archery type target. Unlike a petticoat, a sheet does score some points.

Spider: If you look closely at some targets, there is a small X dead center of the target. When your arrows hits that little X spot on, it’s called a spider. Don’t ask me why.

Slammer: Just like “hog” above, slammer is another term in hunting that refers to a large or trophy size deer.

Snot: An archery slang term for arrow lube.

Sticks: Like bullets, another term for your arrows.

Struggle Stick: When an archer is shooting a bow with a draw weight that’s way to heavy for them, it causes them to shake and struggle – hence the term “struggle stick”.

Tae Kwon Bow: Just like Bow Jitsu above, overly exerting your shooting form to compensate for your bow sight moving off from the center of your target right when the arrow is released.

Toad: Yet another term that refers to a large or trophy size deer.

Trad: A slang term that’s simply short for saying traditional archery. “Yeah, he shoots a trad bow.” I wrote a post that’s a beginner’s guide to traditional archery, check it out if you’re new to trad archery.

Training Wheels: Training wheels are the cams (or pulleys) on compound bows. This is normally a dig on compound archers, as many archers feel that the extra added technology of compound bows is just a crutch for lesser archers.

T-Rex Arms: Some archers don’t fully extend their arms while shooting, this poor form is sometimes called shooting with T-Rex arms. “Dude, check out the T-Rex over there.”

Tomato: A tomato is an arrow that hits in the red area of a target archery target.

Too Much Pinky: When you draw back your bow and your arrow releases sooner than you intended it’s referred to as shooting with too much pinky.

Tweener: When an arrow hits between two scoring rings in target archery, it’s a tweener.

Wart: When an arrow hits a target in a way that it’s technically on the line (but most of the arrow is actually off the line).

William Tell: Have you ever seen the old movie trick where an archer shoots an apple off of a person’s head? That’s a William Tell, named for the guy in history who actually did it.

Yumi: A Yumi is a type of traditional Japanese bow. It refers to both the long and short bows shot in Kyudo, the Japanese art and study of archery.