BJJ Terms for Beginners: A Quick Lookup Glossary

Use this page to look up a word you heard in class. These are short recognition aids, not instructions for performing a technique. Terms vary by instructor and context; ask for a demonstration when a definition does not resolve your question.

Jump to practice and stopping, positions, movement, body-and-grip-language, or equipment-and-rules.

Practice and stopping

• Tap / stop: A signal to stop and release immediately. In class, you may stop for discomfort, uncertainty, fatigue, or any other reason. Do not wait for a second signal or a submission. Ask the instructor to demonstrate the hand, foot, and verbal signals before partner work.
• Drilling: Repeating the assigned movement with the partner response the instructor specifies.
• Positional sparring: Practice beginning from a defined situation, with goals, permitted actions, and a reset rule.
• Rolling: Live grappling under the class's rules.
• Open mat: Practice outside the usual lesson structure, subject to the host's rules and access requirements.
• Reset: End the attempt and return to the agreed start; it does not mean force the partner back into place.

For fuller explanations, use practice formats and open-mat etiquette.

Positions

• Guard: A family of positions where the bottom person uses their legs to manage the person on top.
• Closed guard: Guard with the legs around the top person's torso and ankles crossed.
• Open guard: Guard variations without that closed-guard leg configuration.
• Half guard: A position in which the bottom person's legs control one of the top person's legs.
• Side control: Top control from across the partner's torso, past the guard.
• Mount: Top control over the partner's torso with a leg on each side.
• Knee on belly: A top-control position using a knee or shin across the torso. The name is not a pressure instruction.
• Back control: Controlling a partner from behind. Leg and upper-body connections vary.
• Turtle: A compact position facing the mat, commonly supported on knees and forearms or hands. It does not by itself protect the neck or prevent back control.

Being on top inside someone's guard is different from mount. If the distinction is unclear, start with the position map in the first-month guide.

Movement

• Guard pass: Moving beyond the partner's guard to establish top control.
• Sweep: A guard-based action that brings the bottom player on top. Competition scoring has additional requirements.
• Reversal: A broader description of changing from bottom to top; it is not automatically a scoring sweep.
• Escape: Getting out of a controlled or threatened position.
• Guard retention: Keeping your guard as a partner tries to pass.
• Guard recovery: Re-establishing guard after losing it or its useful connections; instructors may draw the boundary differently.
• Back take: Moving into a position to control the partner's back. It is the transition, distinct from the resulting back-control position.
• Takedown: Bringing a standing exchange to the mat; permitted actions and scoring depend on the rules.
• Transition: A change between positions.
• Hip escape / shrimp: A hip-moving action used in various escapes and drills. Learn the specific version from the instructor.
• Bridge: An action that raises the hips; its purpose depends on the exercise. “Upa” is also used in some bridge-related technique names.
• Technical stand-up: A name for a taught method of rising from the ground. The word alone does not establish how or when to perform it.

Body and grip language

• Base: Stability in the current task.
• Posture: How the body is organized for the position or action; it is not always “head up.”
• Frame: A body structure used to manage space or force. It does not mean locking every joint rigidly.
• Underhook: An arm connection beneath a partner's arm, often continuing around the torso.
• Overhook: An arm connection over a partner's arm. “Whizzer” commonly refers to a particular overhook use in wrestling-related contexts; ask what the instructor means.
• Hooks: Leg or foot connections used for control, with the location depending on the position.
• Grip: A permitted hold on the partner or uniform. Not every place fabric can be grabbed is a legal grip.

Equipment and rules

• Gi / no-gi: Training with the grappling jacket, trousers, and belt, or without that uniform. See the gear guide.
• Rash guard: A fitted athletic shirt commonly worn for grappling.
• Submission: An attack intended to produce a tap, including chokes and joint locks. A class stop signal does not require a submission.
• Choke / strangle: Names used for neck submissions. A glossary is not instruction to attempt one.
• Joint lock: A submission acting on a joint.
• Points / advantages / penalties: Separate parts of some competition systems. See the scoring guide and the actual event rules.
• Belt / stripes: Rank or progress markers explained in the rank guide.
• Coach / professor: Instructor titles; ask how the academy addresses its instructors.

Keep unfamiliar words in a question for the next class: “When you said recovery there, what position were we trying to get back to?” You do not need to memorize the whole page.

Sources and scope

• IBJJF rules library, checked October 22, 2026. Competition position and scoring context only; classroom stopping is not governed by a competition tap count.
• Stephan Kesting and Elliott Bayev: A Glossary of Guards, checked October 22, 2026. First-party instructional context for guard families; no artwork is reproduced.
• Grapplearts: Base, posture, and structure, checked October 22, 2026. Coaching context, not a source for every term or a local terminology policy.
• These short definitions help you ask questions in class. Learn the movements through supervised instruction.