Graffiti Terms

Like all specialized environments, graffiti has a language of its own. Here’s a brief overview of some graffiti terms.

Basic Terms

• scratchiti - Graffiti that has been created by scratching onto a surface (glass, plastic, metal)
• stickie - A sticker with the writer's tag on it. A sticker can be deployed more quickly than other forms of graffiti, making it a favorite in especially public places like newspaper dispensers.
• tag - A stylized signature, normally done in one color. The simplest and most prevalent type of graffiti, a tag is often done in a color that contrasts sharply with its background. It is the writer's logo, his/her stylized personal signature. If a tag is long it is sometimes abbreviated to the first two letters or the first and last letter of the tag; and may be ended with the suffixes "one", "ski", "rock", "em" and "er".
• throw-up or throwie - A throw-up or throwie sits between a tag and a piece in terms of complexity and time investment. It generally consists of a one-color outline and one layer of fill-color. A throw-up is designed for quick execution, to avoid attracting attention to the writer. Most artists have both a tag and a throw-up which act as recognizable logo for others to identify them and their style.
• piece - A graffiti painting, short for masterpiece. It's generally agreed that a painting must have at least three colors to be considered a piece.
• roller - A large graffiti piece that has been created using a paint roller instead of spray paint

Other Graffiti Terms

• bite - To copy another writer's style
• black book or piecebook - A graffiti artist's sketchbook. Often used to sketch out and plan potential graffiti, and to collect tags from other writers.
• bomb - To bomb is to aggressively graffiti a whole area (for instance the length of a street) by painting many surfaces. Bombers often choose throw-ups or tags over complex pieces when bombing, as they can be executed more quickly.
• buff - To remove painted graffiti with chemicals and other instruments, or to paint over it with a flat color
• burner - A well produced graffiti piece that is complex and exceptional
• drips - Stylized drips on letters for added effect
• fill - The solid interior color of letters on a piece or throw-up
• going over - To go over or paint on top of a piece of graffiti simply. While most writers respect one another's artwork, to intentionally and disrespectfully paint on top of another's work is akin to a graffiti declaration of war. However (due partially to the limited amount of desirable wall-space) most graffiti writers maintain a hierarchy of sorts; a tag can legitimately be covered by a throw-up, and a throw-up by a piece, and this is commonly done without incident.
• handstyle - The handwritten style in which a graffiti writer draws their tag. Often handstyle tags are done in a single fluid line.
• hit - To tag a surface with paint or ink
• outline - An uncoloured piece/blueprint of a full colour piece
• run - The length of time graffiti remains up before being covered or removed
• toy - An inexperienced or unskilled writer. Graffiti writers usually use this as a derogatory term for new writers in the scene. A writer considered a "toy" is especially targeted for slashing or going over.
• up - Describes a writer whose work appears regularly everywhere and who is currently writing (for instance, “getting up”, “being up”…as in being up on a wall)
• wildstyle - A complicated construction of interlocking letters. A hard style that consists of lots of arrows and connections. Wildstyle is considered one of the hardest styles to master and pieces done in wildstyle are often completely undecipherable to non-writers.
• writer - Another word for a Graffiti artist