Fandom slang is the vocabulary of fan communities: the people who write fan fiction, argue about what’s canon, ship characters and make alignment charts at 2 a.m. A lot of these words started in fan fiction archives, Tumblr and Twitter, then leaked into everyday talk. This guide explains them in plain English, with a full entry for each.

What counts as “real”

• Canon: what the story officially confirms.
• Fanon: an idea so widely shared by fans it feels official, though it isn’t.
• Headcanon: one fan’s personal, unofficial belief about a story.
• Canon event: something that was always going to happen to you.
• Lore: a story’s backstory, or a person’s.
• Arc: a storyline that develops over time, now also a phase of your life.
• Deep cut: an obscure song or reference only real fans catch.

Ships, favorites and fans

• Ship: to want two characters (or people) to get together.
• OTP: one true pairing, your favorite ship.
• Stan: an extremely devoted fan.
• Bias: your favorite member of a group.
• Anti-fan: someone who campaigns against a celebrity or show.
• Fan service: moments made mainly to please fans.

Characters and archetypes

• Mary Sue: an implausibly perfect character.
• Main character: acting like the star of the story.
• NPC: someone who seems like a background character.
• Chaotic good: good intentions, no respect for rules.
• Chaotic neutral: doing whatever you feel like.
• Lawful evil: following the rules for selfish ends.

Fandom spaces and reactions

• BookTok: the book community on TikTok.
• Fancam: a fan-made video focused on one person.
• Uwu and OwO: cute emoticon faces, happy and surprised.
• Average enjoyer: the calm, confident fan in a famous meme.

Where fandom words come from

Some are surprisingly old. “Mary Sue” comes from a 1973 Star Trek fan fiction parody, and the alignment terms come from Dungeons & Dragons, which had its nine-square grid by 1977. Others are newer: Dictionary.com dates “headcanon” to at least 2007, and BookTok only took off in 2020.

Fans need precise words because they argue about details. Is it canon or just fanon? Is that your headcanon or did the author confirm it? That precision is why fandom vocabulary keeps spreading into general use, where people now talk about their own “arcs,” “lore” and “canon events.”

For more, see our anime slang guide, K-pop slang, gaming slang, or the full A–Z index.