Aeriel - a surf maneuver where a surfer hits the crest of the wave and flies through the air;
A-frame - a wave peak breaking left and right with perfect shape;
Aggro - an Australian expression for aggressive surfing or aggressive surfer;
Alaia - a surfboard made of wood originally used by Hawaiians to surf breaking waves, in the late 19th century;
Aloha- a Hawaiian greeting that means "hello" or "goodbye";
Amped - excited, stoked;
Backdoor - when a surfer pulls into a hollow section from behind the section;
Backside - when a surfer rides with his back to the wave;
Backwash - when a wave sweeps up the beach and returns to the ocean, sometimes colliding with incoming waves;
Bail - an evasive maneuver activated when a surfer is caught inside or when he is about to wipeout;
Bailing - letting go of your surfboard;
Barrel- the tube, the curl of the wave;
Bathymetry - the measurement of depths of water in oceans and seas;
Beach break - waves that break over sandbars;
Beach bum - someone, usually a surfer, that hangs around the beach;
Bellyboard - a bodyboard, a small board used to ride waves in prone position;
Blank - a rough block of polyurethane foam that will be transformed into a surfboard;
Bodysurf - the sport of riding waves the body and swim fins;
Bogging - what happens when a surfer's weight is too far back, and the surfboard nose lifts up;
Bombora - a deep water, offshore reef break;
Bottom turn - when a surfer turns at the bottom of the wave to start trimming the optimal surf line;
Bro - brother, mate;
Burn - to drop in on someone, or steal a wave from another surfer without priority;
Carve - a sharp turn on the wave face;
Chandelier - water falling at a barrel opening threatening the tube rider;
Chop - bumpy ocean and wave conditions that are rough due to strong winds and/or currents;
Closeout - when a wave breaks all at once, with no shape or shoulder;
Corduroy - the vision of a series of swells marching in from the horizon;
Crest - the top and highest point of a wave;
Cutback - a turn performed on the flats or in the shoulder of the wave, in order to get the surfer back on the surf line;
Dawn patrol - early morning surf session;
Deck - the top of the surfboard;
Ding - a crack, hole or fracture in a surfboard;
Drop in - to get in the right of way of a surfer who is already riding a wave;
Drop - the moment after paddling in and standing up, just before the first turn of the wave face;
Duck diving - the technique of pushing the surfboard under and through a breaking wave;
Dude - a cool person, surfer or skateboarder;
Epoxy - a type of plastic resin used to produce surfboards;
Fetch - the uninterrupted distance over which the wind blows without a significant change of direction;
Fin - a hydrofoil mounted at the tail of a surfboard to improve directional stability and control through foot-steering;
Flat - with no waves, or with no surf;
Flats - the horizontal part of a breaking wave, also known as the shoulder;
Flippers - swim fins;
Floater - a surf maneuver where the rider goes over the top of a crumbling section and ends up in the flats;
Foam - whitewater;
Foam blank - the block of foam from which a surfboard is shaped;
Foam board - a surfboard for beginners, with an exterior shell made of soft foam;
Frontside - when a surfer rides facing the wave;
Froth - stoked, amped or excited;
Glassy - a maritime condition when there is no wind to ripple the wave face;
Gnarly - awesome;
Goofy foot - a surfer who rides waves with his right leg forward;
Grommet - a young surfer;
Groundswell - a swell that traveled thousands of miles through the ocean, with a period of 15 seconds or more;
Gun - a big surfboard for riding big waves;
Hang loose - a Hawaiian expression for a relaxing, easygoing and carefree attitude;
Hangten - to surf a wave with all ten toes on the nose of the surfboard;
Haole - an Hawaiian word for "foreigner";
Hawaiian scale - an underestimated way of measuring waves by the Hawaiians;
Heat - a competitive period held in surf contests;
Inside - the area where waves end, as opposed to outside;
Kahuna - wizard, magician;
Kick out- a surf maneuver done at the end of a wave ride to exit it;
Knot - a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour;
Kook - a beginner surfer, an inexperienced surfer or a bad surfer;
Leash - the cord that attaches a surfboard to the surfer;
Line-up- the spot in the ocean where surfers line up to catch waves, just behind the breaking zone;
Lip - the curling part of a wave;
Localism - an aggressive territorial protection of a surf spot by local surfers;
Longboard - the longest surfboard;
Lull - time between sets of wave with no waves breaking;
Mack - big;
Mental - crazy or radical;
Mysto spot - a surf spot that breaks on a far away reef;
Neoprene - an ultra stretchy rubber made from melted-down petroleum chips used to make wetsuits;
Offshore wind - wind blowing from the shore out to the ocean, holding the curl line and smoothing the wave face;
Onshore wind - wind blowing from the ocean toward shore, destroying the quality of waves;
Out the back - an Australian expression for paddling through the breaking waves into the line-up zone;
Outline - the shape of a surfboard from nose to tail;
Outside - the line-up are, as opposed to inside;
Paddle battle - a race between surfers to get into a curl first and thus gain the right of way;
Paipo - a small bellyboard;
Peak - the spot in the ocean where the wave breaks for both sides;
Pearling - what happens when a surfer's weight is too far forward and the surfboard nose dives underwater;
Perfect 10 - a perfectly ridden wave in competitive surfing;
Plastic island~place where plastic has accumulated in the ocean from an ocean an ocean gyre.
Pidgin~ a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages (Roo the rooster speaks Pidgin)
Pit - the impact zone of the wave, or the most hollow part of the tube;
Pitted - tubed, barreled;
Polyurethane - the most common type of material used in surfboard manufacturing;
Pop-up~the quick move a surfer makes to rise to a standing position when taking off on a wave;
Punt - to perform an aerial maneuver;
PWC - personal watercraft; a generic term for a jet ski;
Quiver - the number/collection of surfboards owned by a surfer;
Rail - the edge of a surfboard;
Rash guard - a form-fitting shirt made of nylon-polyester-spandex mixture used under the wetsuit;
Reef break - a wave that breaks over rock or coral;
Reflection - when a wave strikes a hard object and bounces some of its energy off into another direction;
Refraction - the effect by which a swell moving along a point of land slows down where it feels shallow water;
Regular foot - a surfer who rides waves with his left leg forward;
Right of way - priority given to the surfer closer to the breaking part of the wave;
Rip - to surf very well;
Rip current - a strong surface current of short duration flowing seaward from the shore, also known as rip tide;
Rocker - the curve of the surfboard bottom from nose to tail viewed from the side;
Rogue wave - an open ocean wave bigger than the current sea condition;
Section - a part of the wave that breaks ahead of the curl line;
Set - a group of waves;
Shaka - a Hawaiian hand gesture used to say "hello," "great," "cool" and "alright";
Shaper - a surfboard designer and producer;
Shoaling - the effect by which waves entering shallower water increase in height;
Shore break - the area where the ocean waves meet the beach;
Shortboard - a small surfboard;
Skeg - an old expression for surfboard fin;
Slab - an heavy reef break coming out of deep water and breaking in very shallow water;
Snaking - the aggressive act of paddling under, around, or over the top of another surfer to get right of way;
Surf Soup Beach~Where the kids in Surf Soup picture book and cartoon surf
Soup - the broken foam of a wave;
Stall - a surf maneuver when a surfer slows the speed the surfboard to let the tube catchup;
Stance - the surfer's feet position on a surfboard;
Stick - a slang for surfboard;
Stringer - the wooden material that runs down the center of the surfboard to give strength and flexibility to the foam;
Stoked - enthusiastic, exhilarated, or excited;
SUP - stand up paddleboard;
Surging wave - a wave that doesn't have time to break because the transition from deep-water to shallow water is too fast;
Swell - energy powered by strong winds which produces wave trains;
Take-off - the start of a wave ride;
Thruster - the three-fin surfboard design created by Simon Anderson;
Tidal bore - a rare phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave that travels up a river;
Tow-in - when surfers use personal watercraft to tow into waves that can't be paddled into;
Trimming - finding the perfect surf line for speed on the wave face;
Trough - the bottom of the wave, the opposite of a crest;
Tsunami - a giant and deadly wave;
Tube - the hollow interior of a wave, also known as barrel;
Turtle roll - a surfing technique where the surfer flips the board over in front of an oncoming wave to get under it;
Twin-fin - a surfboard with two fins;
Wahine - a female surfer;
Wave height - the difference between the elevations of a crest and a neighboring trough;
Wave period- the time between two consecutive wave crests;
Wave train - a group of swells of similar wavelengths;
Wavelength - the distance between the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave;
Wax - a paraffin-based product which is applied to the surfboard deck to increase traction and reduce slippery;
Wedge - a steep wave;
Wetsuit - a garment made of neoprene which provides thermal insulation;
Whitewater - the foamy, white-colored water created where a wave breaks;
Windswell - a group of waves generated by local winds, within less than 800 miles from the coast;
Wipeout - an unexpected fall off a surfboard while surfing a wave, or surf accident;