leetspeak

English

Alternative forms

• leetspeek, l33tspeak, l33t5p34k, 1337speak, 13375p34k

Etymology

From leet +‎ -speak; the former element is from elite, respelled according to leetspeak conventions.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːt.spiːk/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
Leetspeak: "1 pwnd s|_|m n00bz" Transliteration: "I owned some newbies." Formal English: "I soundly defeated some newcomers."

leetspeak (uncountable)

1. (chiefly Internet slang) A form of chatspeak characterized most strongly by its alphanumeric substitutions.

   Hypernyms: chatspeak, < netspeak

   Coordinate terms: textspeak, textese

   • 1996 May 7, Thomas Weigle, “Re: Realmz Scenario Summary”, in comp.sys.mac.games.adventure‎^[1] (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-15, message-ID <thomas.weigle-0705961754080001@dialup96-1-16.swipnet.se>:

     well, after all i am a student of languages... which lets me peek into sociology now and then. i haven't studied the 'leet guys very much, but it seems to me that as they all understand their form of "communication", the main purpose (ie separating themselves as a group from the mainstream) is successful. especially as it is almost impossible to understand leetspeak at first.

   • 1997 June 12, KaFRoKa, “Re: Another new cascade!”, in alt.games.final-fantasy‎^[2] (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-15, message-ID <5npiei$lrn$1@thor.atcon.com>:

     Murg is God [It's "/\/\U|>,g 15 g4\/\/D" in l33tsp33k]

   • 1998 May 24, Ben Cantrick, “Re: Abuse of alphanumerics. Why do haX0r d00dz do it?”, in alt.2600‎^[3] (Usenet), retrieved 2016-07-15, message-ID <6k9pf8$f5o@peabody.colorado.edu>:

     People associate "l33t-speak" with hackers, so when new hackers start to get into the scene they assume they need to write like that, which perpetuates the belief that hackers use l33t-sp34k.

See also

• Appendix:English internet slang