Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Street Slang & Dictionary Kazuliski
In the Night City of Cyberpunk 2077, you will become well versed with street slang. Essentially a universal polyglot of English, French, German, Japanese and a half dozen other languages. The addition of Kiroshi Optics cyberware, assists V with this process. In terms of lore, covering Street Slang can be slightly contentious, as there are many words or phrases used in the Cyberpunk genre that are not necessarily found or perhaps have a different meaning in CD Projekt Red?s World of Cyberpunk 2077 or Mike Pondsmith?s cyberpunk universe.
In addition, some of the slang found in official sourcebooks, was not directly part of the lore that Mike Pondsmithand R. Talsorian games created. Rather reference lists were provided to give players guidance on how to add flavour to their gaming sessions, in a similar vein, books and movie lists acted as a reference to enable players to immerse themselves in the genre. This gives those new to tabletop gaming a feel for the style of speech, the urban texture, and the hard-edged realities of a Cyberpunk world.
Afterall, this is what roleplaying is all about. However, this means there is a lot of homebrew content going around the net, both in terms of lore and vocabulary. For example, you can find Street Samurai in Cyberpunk 2020, and while there are similarities, these are not the same Street Samurai found in Shadowrun, but some use them interchangeably.
Based upon my experience, this is the current street slang list you should be familiar with.
Air Hypo: Bones McCoy, a compressed air hypodermic or Air hypo, a reference to Dr Leonard ?Bones? McCoy from Star Trek. is used on Sandra Dorsett, when she began to flatline during the quest ?Breaking Through?
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Airhypo Kazuliski
ACPAs: Assisted Combat Power Armor or simply Power Armor.
Agriplex: An agglomeration of farms with one central management complex. A modern-day capitalist collective farm.
Amped-Out: Fatigue after being under the influence of amphetamines and certain combat drugs.
Angel: Refers to a secret group of European solos. It is said that the Angels live in glittering towers in the Euro Crystal Palace at L-5, low Earth orbit. Their assignments are as elusive as their names. No company has yet to admit to hiring one of the Angels, or to having been one of their targets.
Apogee: The best. The greatest
Ay?Vee: Common slang for an aerodyne, an automobile?like flying car powered by ducted jet fans.
Afterlife is a bar that was converted from a mortuary. Separated into three parts the Antechamber, Crypt and Hades with Hades being for the most dangerous patrons.
Aliens: Derogatory grounder term for someone who lives in space aka the highriders.
Badge: Police or corporate security.
Bakuto: Gambler.
Benji: A robohound.
Black Ice: Countermeasure software which causes physical harm or death to an intruder.
Biomonitor: Considered essential by Solos, the Biomon, is mounted just below the skin of the forearm, and can provide information on variables such as pulse, respiration, brainwaves, blood sugar, temperature, and cholesterol levels. V uses her Biomon to check the status of Sandra Dorsett during the quest ?Breaking Through?. V?s Biomon data panel showed the user?s name, ID, Age, Gender, Blood Type, Trauma Team Membership, GPS and lists the user?s medications.
Bhikkhu Monks: Bhikkhu literally means ?beggar? or ?one who lives by alms.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Bhikkhu Monk Kazuliski
Borg or Cyborg: An individual who has underwent a full body replacement. Afterall metal is better than meat according to Adam Smasher.
Bonebrain Buffalo: derogatory term used for a member of the Animal gang.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Bonebrain Buffalo Kazuliski
Body Sculpting: The process of having the body totally re-moulded by vat-grown tissue and advanced plastic surgery
Body Bank: A storage facility for transplant organs. Many are illegal and actively recruit new merchandise
Bosozuki: a street samurai.
Bioware: Any biological enhancement or replacement
Booster: Any member of a gang that heavily uses cyberware, leather clothing and engages in random violence.
Boost is a nootropic, that increases intelligence, but users may develop full tolerance resulting in the drug no longer having an effect. Addicts will begin suffering screaming fits and hallucinations unless they get their fix.
Boryokudan: Literally, violence groups. Used by Japanese police to refer to Yakuza.
Braindance: Psycho-neural stimulator that creates a full sensory hallucination. Used for entertainment or to control violent prisoners.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Stefan & Braindance Kazuliski
Brain Potato: sometimes used to describe someone who is a braindance addict
Buttonhead: A person addicted to stimulating the pleasure centres through interface sockets or a braindance addict.
Blackwall: Netwatch, have done their best to ban Netrunners from large sections of the NET to keep the DataKrash from spreading, and one of these methods appears to be the Blackwall. Netwatch literally destroyed key NET nodes in the system and took others offline to protect everyone from AI anarchy.
Black Hole: the most expensive bar on Crystal Palace
Black Lace, an upgraded version of Dorph, imparts euphoria, adrenal rush and invulnerability to pain. Black Lace users become fearless, cold-blooded killing machines. Black Lace will significantly augment a user?s strength and cool, but it may cause someone to go cyberpsycho.
Cannibalism: Yes, some street punks eat each other.
Call girl: A female escort worker.
Char: Mood dampener which installs an inhuman sense of calm.
Chippin? In: To buy cyberware for the first time. To cast your lot with a group. To connect with a machine. Also the name of a Samurai song.
Choomba also known as Chombatta, is Neo-Afro American slang for friend or family member.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Choomba Kazuliski
CHOOH2: alcohol, as used in vehicle power plants. Most vehicles in Night City are fuelled by an advanced form of alcohol with a higher burning temperature than normal methanol.
CHOOH-head wild or undisciplined personnel or civilians
Chrome: Material used to spice up the appearance of something. Sexy features on a program, not needed for functionality but radiating style or a generic reference to cyberware.
Chromer is a heavy metal rock fan. Chromer gangs base their activities around their favourite rock bands, interpreting song lyrics as orders from their heroes. Most Chromatic rock gangs are into totally senseless, random acts of violence as a means of expression, such as the Steel Slaughter Slammers.
Chrome-Bangers: Derogatory term for the C-SWAT team or psychosquad.
Chromatic Rock: A type of heavy metal Characterized by heavy electronics, simple rhythms, and violent lyrics.
Collarboy is a white-collar worker or corporate employee.
Combat Zones are areas of urban decay in major cities, characterized by high crime rates, unmaintained streets and buildings, poor police coverage, high concentrations of homeless people, and frequent outbreaks of gang-related violence.
Collapse: tens of millions of United States citizens were displaced due to ruined infrastructure, environmental disaster, economic problems, plague, government neglect, criminal and terrorist activity.
Combat Drugs: Designer drugs used by militaries and corporations to enhance the capabilities of their forces. Examples include Prime, which narrows the subject?s focus and imbues a sense of ultimate calm, increasing battlefield awareness and reducing incidents of panic, and Timewarp, sharpens reflexes but at the cost of real damage as muscles are overextended.
CorpScrip: Megacorps often pay their employees in corpscrip, which can only be used in corp stores to ensure loyalty and control.
Cyberdeck: Hardware used to access cyberspace through a DNI link
Cybered Up: To get as much cyberware implanted as possible before going over the Edge.
Cyberpsychosis: form of serious mental illness characterized by homicidal acts, random violence and sociopathic behaviour. Brought on by acquiring too much implanted cyberware.
Crystal Jockey is a computer user, a netrunner.
CredChips use liquid crystal matrixes to store personal information, thumbprint, voice print, retina scan, SIN and bank account information.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Meredith Stout & Credchip Kazuliski
Clap refers to a virus.
Cybersquads are police detachments specialized to handle cybernetically enhanced criminals. Often armed with vehicle-stopping weapons and armor. These groups have a variety of names, with the most commonly known one being C-SWAT an acronym for cybernetic special weapons and tactical squad and MAX-TAC (Maximum Force Tactical Division).
Cultists: Gangs organized along religious lines, often following one leader?s spiritual guidance. Many cult gangs are nihilist in nature, believing the world is beyond redemption.
Data Term: The Data Term is a street corner computer terminal, built into a heavily armoured concrete post. Data Terms have a direct link to a central Data Pool in their home city, and can provide hard copy ?flimsy? maps of the area, information, news updates, phone numbers, current event listings, entertainment information, and shopping services.
Data Pool: Data Pools are information servers and exchange systems designed for open use within the limits of a city. Data Pools produce free, open content created through the collaborative efforts of a community of users.
DataKrash a pervasive, computer virus that created links between different bits of data stored on millions of computers.
Data Fortress is a computer that has been protected by digital encryptions and powerful antipersonnel programs such as I.C.E. to keep out hackers. I.C.E. is an acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Data Fortress Kazuliski
Deckjockey an expert cyberdeck user, usually a specialist and covertly accessing and stealing from corporate databases
Dirt Girl or Dirt Boy used by the spaceborne to describe earth-born humans. Dirtsider is also used as a term for someone who rarely or never is in space.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Dirgirl Kazuliski
Dock: To meet someone or to have intercourse
Dorphs are synthetic endorphins, a designer drug that increases healing powers, limits fatigue, and produces a rush like a second wind. They increase the user?s strength but reduce reflexes.
Dream Time: Jail time in braindance.
Edgerunner: Another term used to describe Cyberpunks. An Edgerunner is adept at using technology for his or her own ends, surfing the interface of anarchy and danger to survive.
Eddies are Eurodollars the most commonly accepted standard currency in the modern world. The Eurodollar originates from the Treaty of 1992 which established the European Economic Community. The common currency unit, the Eurodollar, was established, based on average value in gold of all currencies combined. Trapped in paranoid isolationism, the U.S. declined to enter and subsequently suffered an economic crash.
Exotics are bio sculpted humans with non-human elements. Almost anything is available if you have enough Eddies. With sophisticated Nano surgery, cloning, gene matching and grafting, specialist companies such as Biotechnica, could change a person?s appearance to almost any specification, cat woman, elf or your number one anime waifu.
Flatline: To kill. A dead person or thing.
Fixer: An arranger of deals or transactions. Usually illegal.
Frag: To kill, usually with explosives.
Forlorn Hope: founded by John ?The Professor? Freeman and his wife Marianne, it?s a Night City bar for soldiers and solos.
Gang of Four: the FBI, CIA, NSA and DEA
Geisha: Japan?s professional female entertainers.
Going LEO means to make a trip to the Low Earth Orbit or one of the space stations such as Crystal Palace. This usually involves dealing with Orbital Air. The Orbital Air Space centre is a location that featured on a subway map, alongside several advertisements for ?Sky is no Limit?.
Gonk is an idiot or fool.
Guardians: Often Cops cannot be trusted to do their job, so some citizens band together to guard their homes, thus creating a gang.
Handle: A nickname; a working name you are known by on the Street.
Hell of the Death of a Thousand Cuts: an infamous combat zone in Hong Kong
Highrider: Someone who lives or works in space, usually at Low Earth Orbit.
Hydro: Hydrogen fuel, used to power a sizable number of vehicles in the 2000s.
Hosho Kaisha: ?Security Companies?. Hired muscle and rent-a-cops.
Hotdogger: A novice netrunner
Input: Girlfriend. Output: Boyfriend.
Jazz: developed under contract by the United States Air Force for combat pilots to increase reflexes. It failed miserably due to the permanent nerve damage it caused. Jazz hit the streets in a corporate play and ever since has been a mainstay of street gangs and desperate solos.
JAM: To hurt. To mess up. To have intercourse.
Jaina: roughly translates to ?sweetheart.? It?s a term of endearment sometimes used for a person?s girlfriend, but Jackie uses it more like a diminutive phrase such as ?babe?.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Street Slang Choomba & Jaina
Joyboy and Joygirls are prostitutes
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Joyboys & Joygirls Kazuliski
Juice: potent strength and speed enhancer
Juvies: Also known as Youth Gangs or YoGangs, have many themes, but all have one thing in common, most members are early teens or preteens.
Kereznikov: boosterware that increases reaction speed.
Keyboard: Street slang for a computer interface deck with manual keys or a terminal.
Kibble: Originally designed by Purina Foods for the South American relief effort. Kibble provides a full day?s supply of all the essential vitamin and mineral compounds, along with a minimal amount of complete proteins containing the nine amino acids necessary in the human diet. In other words, it?s the equivalent of dog food.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Kibble & SCOP Kazuliski
Kurumaku: denotes a behind-the-scenes fixer.
LeSade: used by sadomasochistic vampire gangs on their victims through their injector fangs. While a potent aphrodisiac, it scrambles pleasure-pain signals to the brain. A victim under the influence of LeSade becomes sexually aroused when receiving pain.
Linefoot: Nomad slang for anyone who isn?t a nomad.
LiveMetal: A form of highly advanced Borg technology.
Meatball: someone augmented with grafted muscle.
MegaCorp: A corporation whose reach extends around the globe. Most Megacorps have facilities and manpower equal to many small nations.
Metalhead: Term used to describe a denizen of the megacity who uses cyberware.
Mizu Shobai: ?Water Business? or ?Water Trades?, meaning nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and related businesses.
Mr. Ex a powerful stimulant which increases metabolic processes to such a level that the person may stay awake for almost a week. It is used primarily by busy Corporates and Netrunners.
Monkey: someone using ACPA who is not well trained to do so.
Nations: born from alliances of Tribes and can represent up to one million Nomads. Nations were born from necessity to help groups of Nomad tribes work together to bid for large construction projects.
NCPD: Night City Police Department
NCART: Night City Area Rapid Transit
Neuralware: Tiny coprocessing chips and nerve amplifiers that increase existing abilities.
Netrun: To interface with a cyberspace system and hack its programs and controls. Used also to refer to running the global Network until the advent of the Fourth Corporate War.
Netwatch: began in Europe as a private organization. Now they monitor and provide security on a global basis.
Netpig: a derogatory term referring to Netwatch. Netrunners have a variety of names for Netwatch including the Bogeymen, Chairjocks and Ice-weasels.
Ninjo Compassion or empathy. Often used with ?giri? obligation to describe Japanese conflict between one?s duty and one?s feelings; a central theme in Japanese literature. Both are favourite terms of traditional Yakuza.
Nudie: A target without ACPA or exoskeletons
Ortillery: Space-based artillery, usually in the form of laser or kinetic slug-firing satellites.
PanzerFaust a martial art that Borgs can specialize in.
Pineapple: A grenade.
Playbeings are erotic exotics, described as turning a person into the master or mistress of the art of physical pleasure. This special package included top of the range Mr Studd or Midnight Lady implants, special chipware to overclock one?s libido, and tactile boosts for sensory overload. Biotechnia would force the person to sign a waiver indicating that the applicant wanting to become a Play Being absolves Biotechnica of all legal responsibility for any psychological aberrations or problems arising from the Play Being package.
Pranksters are gangs dedicated to practical jokes that have a dark side.
Prepack: meals that can be microwaved or self?heated for consumption. They still tend to be largely soy and grain?based ?faux food?, but they are usually flavoured more effectively and may even have a few bits of real meat or veggies inside.
Puppets: Corporations, organized crime groups and even governments have been known to sponsor or form gangs, using them as weapons to point at enemies while maintaining plausible deniability.
Poser gangs are any group whose members all adopt a specific look, style or body sculpt, and usually emulate someone famous. It could be a movie star, a historical figure, or even fictional characters. Posers adopt the clone look for protection, identification and impact. Imagine being in a room with clones of your favourite anime character. Poser gangs include the Willow Sisterhood, a group of young women who are as deadly as they are beautiful. Their members sculpt themselves to resemble the most beautiful women from the past and present, fictional and real. Many Sisters are also mistresses or bodyguards to powerful Corporates and Fixers.
Punknaught: generic term for ugly jury-rigged urban combat vehicles welded together by gangs using any scrap they can find.
RABIDS: Roving Autonomous Bartmoss Interface Drones, are AI ?killer? programs designed to resemble the late Rache Bartmoss, created as his last proverbial middle finger to his Corporate enemies. Powerful, homicidal and ubiquitous, they began to infest the besieged Net during the Fourth Corporate War. At first, they attacked only known Bartmoss targets like Arasaka and EBM. But as time went on, the RABIDs evolved a murderous hatred of anyone they encountered in the Net. They also reproduced like sociopathic grasshoppers, creating a deadly pack of killer programs numbering in the hundreds of thousands, roving the Net looking for something to annihilate.
Ranyon: something old and overused
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Ranyon Kazuliski
REO Meatwagon: Considered by some as the main Night City rival of Trauma Team International. REO apparently offer an implant that functions in a similar way to their trauma team counterparts and unsurprisingly their price plans are significantly cheaper but also less reliable.
Ripperdocs, such as Doctor Victor Vector, are specialists in engineering and medicine. They perform many off-licence and illegal procedures such as installing black market cyberware.
Rin Tin Tin: A robohound, perhaps a police K9.
Rockerboy: A musician or public figure who uses his or her content to make political or social statements. Rockerboys are not the same as ?Rock Stars?, who are usually ?owned? by recording mediacorps and are apolitical. The names origin comes from James ?Rockerboy? Manson after he was killed in front of a live audience in 1997.
Ronin: A freelance assassin or mercenary.
Roller: Term used to describe a road nomad or other travelling indigent
Sandevistan: speedware which kicks in only when desired.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Sandevistan Kazuliski
Samurai: A Corporate assassin or mercenary, hired to protect Corporation property or make strikes against other Corporate holdings. Also, the name of the most famous Rockerboy band in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, starring Johnny Silverhand and Kerry Eurodyne.
Sarakin: Salary man financiers, or more appropriately, loan sharks.
Screamsheets: One page of a newspaper or blog, custom populated with stories specifically chosen to fit a person?s inputted interests. Screamsheets keep advertising to a minimum.
SCOP: Single Cell Organic Proteins are tailored to fit into almost any food niche. There is hamburger and pineapple pizza SCOP for instance. It can, and does, look like any other food product.
SIN Single Identification Number. An ID number unique to each citizen. Many street people (nomads, derelicts) are said to be ?SINless?, i.e. without a SIN. This makes them unknown (non-existent) to the system. It allows them to move about in society more freely than a ?recorded? citizen, but also allows the enforcers of society (police and corp. security) to punish them without due process since, technically, they ?do not exist?.
Shaikujin an ?Honest Citizen?. A corporate employee.
Slammit On: To get violent; to attack someone without reason.
Slice n? dice: A mono-filament cyberweapon, usually mounted in the tip of a finger, which is used as a garrotte or whip. It will cut through almost all organic material and most plastics.
Smash is a euphoric, providing a strength increase and is an alternative form of alcohol sold in cans. Its side effects include psychological addiction and the user may sink into catatonia or feel suicidal, making them a ripe target for some Booster looking for spare change.
Solo A mercenary who works the streets. A ?for-hire? combat specialist. Used as bodyguards, assassins, and soldiers, individually or in groups.
Sonic Terrorist: Underground musicians that fight the status quo.
Speakeasy: designed as a truth serum, but has aphrodisiac side-effects. Speakeasy is now used in certain brothels of Night City to gain access to valued information carried by corporates and other individuals of interest. A powerful truth serum, it tends to function best when the subject is engaged in copulation, as it reacts to the hormonal imbalances found during orgasms.
Sucratine: as far as I am aware something sweet or sugary, but subject to change.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Sucratine Kazuliski
Static: Something that Nomads call those who live in cities.
Stuffit: To have intercourse or to forget about something.
SythCoke: or Snapcoke are synthetic versions of cocaine. Its side effects include paranoia and psychological addiction, while providing the user a minor increase in strength.
Threep: Slang term used to describe an obvious full-body cyborg. Derived from an effeminate robot character in a late 1990?s flat film.
Trauma Team: Hired, heavily-armed ambulance drivers who use aerodyne vehicles to rescue wounded patients who have signed up for the team?s medical services.
Trip 6: another way of saying triple six, the devil.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Trip-Six Kazuliski
Wetwork: Assassination
Weefle: An inexperienced netrunner.
Wilson: Netrunner slang for someone considered stupid or crazy.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Wilson Kazuliski
Yubitsume: The Yakuza ritual of slicing the joint off the little finger to atone for a mistake.
Zonedance: Dancing turned into a dominance game. The dancer tries to persuade, by charisma, talent, or violence, other dancers within their zone to conform to their movements. Challenging because other dancers are often listening to other music via cyber-audio. For more Cyberpunk 2077 Lore check out Kazuliski.
Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Street Slang & Dictionary Kazuliski
