Home / Glossary
WoW glossary
Updated October 4, 2026. Prices are U.S. list prices; check the official shop before you buy.
Every word a new player hears in the first week, explained in one line each.
- Add
- An extra enemy that joins a fight.
- Aggro
- An enemy's attention. Whoever has aggro gets attacked. The tank should have it.
- AoE
- Area of effect. An attack or spell that hits everything in an area.
- Auction House (AH)
- The in-game market where players buy and sell items for gold.
- Boss
- A strong enemy at the end of a dungeon or raid section.
- Buff / Debuff
- A good effect on you (buff) or a bad one (debuff).
- Cooldown (CD)
- The wait before you can use an ability again.
- Delve
- A short challenge for 1 to 5 players, made to be done solo.
- DPS
- Damage per second. Also the name for the damage role.
- Dungeon
- A group challenge for 5 players: 1 tank, 1 healer, 3 damage.
- Expansion
- A large paid update that adds zones, story and levels. The current one is Midnight.
- Faction
- Your side: Alliance or Horde.
- Gear / Item level (ilvl)
- Your equipment. Item level is a number for how strong it is.
- GCD
- Global cooldown. A short pause, about 1.5 seconds, after most abilities.
- Guild
- A player club with its own chat. Good for help and finding groups.
- Healer
- The role that keeps the group alive.
- Instance
- A private copy of a dungeon or raid, just for your group.
- Kite
- Keep an enemy chasing you while you hurt it from range.
- Mount
- A creature or vehicle you ride to travel faster.
- Mythic+ (M+)
- Timed, harder dungeons with rising difficulty levels.
- NPC
- Non-player character. Anyone in the world controlled by the game.
- Patch
- A free update that adds content or fixes problems.
- Pull
- Starting a fight with a group of enemies. Usually the tank's job.
- PvE / PvP
- Player versus environment (fighting the game) / player versus player.
- Raid
- A large group challenge for 10 to 30 players.
- Realm
- A game server. You can play with friends on other realms in most content.
- Spec
- Specialization. A version of your class with its own role and abilities.
- Tank
- The role that holds the enemies' attention and takes the hits.
- Talents
- Choices that change and improve your abilities.
- Wipe
- When the whole group dies in a fight.
- WoW Token
- An item that turns gold into game time, or real money into gold.