Monster Hunter Terminology, Abbreviations, and Acronyms

Compiling a list of Monster Hunter terms, common abbreviations, and useful acronyms, starting with the old list I made for MH3U's GS guide, with a few basic additions. Obviously I'm not going to get everything, so feel free to add stuff or give feedback. Likewise, if there is enough demand/support in the wider community, this list might grow to include terms from other regions if there are enough differences or alternative uses of MH language to warrant it.

For now I am going to keep things fairly simple for the sake of readability, although I may update this list to be more descriptive in the case of some of the terms.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

A+1: Adrenaline+1, the skill.
A+2: Adrenaline+2, the skill.
aka: also known as
AoE: Area-of-Effect
Au*: Nonspecific (wildcard) term for any of the Attack Up skills.
AuL: Attack Up Large, the skill.
AuM: Attack Up Medium, the skill.
AuS: Attack Up Small, the skill.
AuX: Nonspecific (wildcard) term for any of the Attack Up skills.
AuXL: Attack Up Extra Large, the skill.
BB: Barrel Bomb.
BG: Bowgun (weapon classes and general term for a weapon).
CB: Charge Blade (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
CD: Critical Draw, the skill.
CE: Critical Eye, the skill.
CoB: Center-of-Blade.
DB: Dual Blades (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
DPH: Damage-Per-Hit.
DPS: Damage-Per-Second.
Du*: Nonspecific (wildcard) term for any of the Defense Up skills.
DuL: Defense Up Large, the skill.
DuM: Defense Up Medium, the skill.
DuS: Defense Up Small, the skill.
DuX: Nonspecific (wildcard) term for any of the Defense Up skills.
DuXL: Defense Up Extra Large, the skill.
ESP: See the description of Mind's Eye.
FAQ: Frequently-Asked-Questions.
G-R: G-Rank (quests and hunter status).
GL: Gunlance (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
GR: G-Rank (quests and hunter status).
GS: GreatSword (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
HBG: Heavy Bowgun (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
HGE: High Grade Earplugs, the skill.
HH: Hunting Horn (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
HnR: Hit-and-Run.
HR: May mean "High Rank" or "Hunter Rank (#)" depending on context.
HUD: Heads-Up-Display.
IG: Insect Glaive (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
KO: Knockout.
L0 (Attack): Refers to the default uncharged form of an attack that can be charged (e.g. the GreatSword's overhead attack).
L1 (Attack): Refers to the first charged level of an attack that can be charged (e.g. the GreatSword's overhead attack).
L2 (Attack): Refers to the second charged level of an attack that can be charged (e.g. the GreatSword's overhead attack).
L3 (Attack): Refers to the third charged level of an attack that can be charged (e.g. the GreatSword's overhead attack).
LBB: Large Barrel Bomb.
LBB+: Large Barrel Bomb+.
LBG: Light Bowgun (weapon class and general term for a weapon).
LR: Low Rank (quests and hunter status)
LS: Long Sword (weapon class and general term for a weapon)
MH: Monster Hunter (the game series; very rarely refers to a hunter)
MH3 (Tri): Monster Hunter 3: Tri.
MH3U: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
MH4U: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
mhp3rd: Monster Hunter Portable Third.
MOI: Moment of Invulnerability/Invincibility.
PD: Punishing Draw, the armor skill.
Q&A: Questions and Answers
QS: Quick Sheathe, the armor skill.
S+1: Shorthand for Sharpness+1, the skill.
Sharp+1: Sharpness+1, the skill.
SA: Switch Axe (weapon class and general term for a weapon)
SnS: Sword-and-Shield.
Tri: See MH3 (Tri)
WA: Wrath Awoken, the armor skill.

Other Terminology

Cart: This word typically refers to the kitty kart - the emergency cart that hunters are wheeled off in when they lose all their health. As such, words like "carting" or "carted" are typically used to describe that particular failure state of the health bar reaching 0. also known as Kart or Kitty-(C/K)art .

Gem: A common alternative term used to refer to armor decorations (i.e. jewels).

Gem(ing) in/out [a skill]: This is a common way to describe setting the decorations on equipment with gems to activate or deactivate a skill by strategically adding jewels that will increase or decrease points for a skill as desired. To gem in a skill is to add jewels to a set to activate the skill. To gem out a skill is to add jewels to a set to deactivate an unwanted skill that would otherwise be active.

I actually never thought of this. Good idea. Should we add the other abbreviations for the new weapons? I still regularly call the CB the CA, and IG the IS.