This topic can be separated out into 2 categories: first, common sport specific terminology which can be used at school or the office without embarrassment and second the slang which is that part of the language used by boarders to form a group identity.
Listed below are terms mainly from the first category.
| ABS | Acrylonitrite Butadiene Styrene (Plastic used as snowboard topsheet) |
| Aerial manoeuvres | indy, method, mute, stale fish, japan, ollie, revert, sidekick, nose/tail grab, rocket, 180-to-fakie, half-cab, roast beef, alley oop, two/one handed invert, switch-3/5/7/9, haakon flip, misty/rodeo... |
| All-around, All-mountain, All-terrain, Free-riding, Free-style, Alpine, Race, Half-pipe | Types of equipment and riding styles, see the board equipment section for details. |
| Base | The P-tex bottom of the board. |
| Bladder and shell | Flexible inner liner, and the outer shell of a boot |
| Bonk | To tap something as the boarder flies over it. Ski resorts don't like boarders to bonk trash cans, picnic tables, or other people. |
| Butt plant | corollary to face plant. |
| Camber | The built in curvature of a board, which can be seen as a space between the board and a table when the board is laid flat on a table; can be curved up like skis or down (rockered). |
| Carve | Turning using weight shifting and without skidding |
| Core | The material the inside of the board is made of. |
| CSF | Canadian Snowboard Federation |
| Duck-Stance | A duck-footed stance where the rear foot binding angles crosses into the negative. |
| Effective edge/Contact edge | The length of edge which contacts the snow, or applies pressure, during a turn. |
| ESF | Ecole du Ski Francaise - the governing body for teaching snow sports in France |
| Face plant | Falling on one's face. |
| Fakie | Riding backwards, this term can not be applied to a totally symmetrical board with a centered stance where the feet are perpendicular to the edges, normally the feet are angled towards the nose of the board. |
| Fall line | The most direct line down a slope, the line a ball would follow if rolled down the hill. |
| Goofy/regular footed | Right foot towards the nose is goofy, left is regular. Same terminology applies to skateboarding and surfing. Despite the name, "regular" is no more popular than "goofy" |
| Grab | Any aerial maneuver where the board is grabbed by either or both hands. |
| Half-pipe | A trough cut into or built up with snow, term originates from skateboarding. |
| Heel edge | Opposite edge of the toe edge. |
| High-back | The part of the binding that sits behind the heel and very lowest part of the leg, see equipment section. |
| Jib | To ride on something other than snow, like logs, cars, hand rails, etc. |
| Leash | A safety strap for the case where the binding accidentally releases (which is occasionally possible), required at most ski areas. Also used to keep the board secured to the leg while hiking with the board or while putting it on or taking it off. |
| Newbie | A novice, or a rookie - someone new to a thing. |
| Nose or tip | That end of the board that the feet are usually angled towards. |
| Old-school | The techniques and equipment set-ups originated in the 80's. Nearly all evolving sports use the term old-school to describe something related to the past. |
| P-tex | Brand name of polyethylene used for the snowboard base material. |
| Plate binding | Used with hard shell boots, see equipment section. |
| PSIA | Professional Ski Instructors of America |
| Rail | Side metal edge of a snowboard. |
| Side-cut | The curvature of the edge towards the center of the board described by the radius of the arc of that curve. |
| Shred | Rip, jam, do way good snowboarding. |
| Shredder | One who shreds |
| Sideslip | To slide or skid down a hill with the board perpendicular to the fall line. Probably one of the first thing that someone learns to do. Note this is not a fail safe mechanism for getting off slopes that are too much for you. If you sideslip down a slop full of powder, expect to get some abuse from boarders and skiers alike. If you absolutely must do this to get out of trouble, get to the side of the piste. |
| Skate/Scoot | To propel yourself by pushing with the rear foot which is out of the binding while the front foot is still attached. |
| Slope style | Freestyle on a large course with jumps, kickers, spines, tables, buses, rails. Points awared for being stylish and choosing an imaginative route |
| Stance | Refers to the position of the feet on the board. |
| Stomp or Skid pad | A pad attached to the board between the bindings where the rear foot can be set when its not in the binding. |
| Switch stance | A boarding stance in which the nose and tail are indistinguishable, there is no fakie, no forwards or backwards. |
| Symmetrical/asymmetrical | Refers to board design, see equipment section. |
| Tail | Back of the board. |
| Toe edge | That edge of the board the rider faces. |
| Top Sheet | The top layer of a laminated board, normally contains the graphics, the top layer of the board which can be touched. |
| Tweak | To become as distorted as possible whilst doing that trick. |
| Twintip | A board which is symetrical front to back, can be ridden in either direction. See Switch stance. |
| Wall | Vertical section of a half-pipe. |
| 3D | Burton's 3 hole pattern of binding mounting. Each binding is secured by 3 screws. There are four different positions or settings of 3 holes for each binding. This allows easy stance adjustment. The 3D hole binding also is mounted on a disk that rotates for angle adjustment. 3D is only used by Burton, but an adapter is available to allow for 3D bindings to be used on the 4x4 hole pattern. |
| 4x4 | F2 originated 4 hole pattern of binding mounting. Each binding is secured by 4 screws. This allows easy stance adjustment. The 4x4 binding also is mounted on a disk that rotates for angle adjustment. A majority of non-Burton boards and bindings use the 4x4 pattern. Some 4X4 bindings can be mounted on the Burton 3D pattern without modification. |