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l33t or Eleet (sometimes rendered Leet, 1337, or 31337), also known as Leetspeak, is an alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
 used primarily on the Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
, which uses various combinations of ASCII
ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange , is a coding standard that can be used for interchanging information, if the information is expressed mainly by the written form of English words....
 characters to replace Latinate
Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
 letters. The term is derived from the word "elite
Elite

Elite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant Group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status envied by individuals of lower social status....
", and the usage it describes is a specialized form of symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
ic writing. Different "dialects" or varieties
Variety (linguistics)

In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called a lect, is a language or dialect considered as a variety or development of another language or dialect....
 of leet are found on different online forums
Internet forum

An , or 'message board', is an online discussion site. It is the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system....
.

Initially, the word l33t was used as an adjective
Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntax role is to grammatical modifier a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition....
, to primarily describe the behavior or accomplishments of others in the community, with “lame” being its antonym.






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Encyclopedia


l33t or Eleet (sometimes rendered Leet, 1337, or 31337), also known as Leetspeak, is an alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
 used primarily on the Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
, which uses various combinations of ASCII
ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange , is a coding standard that can be used for interchanging information, if the information is expressed mainly by the written form of English words....
 characters to replace Latinate
Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
 letters. The term is derived from the word "elite
Elite

Elite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant Group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status envied by individuals of lower social status....
", and the usage it describes is a specialized form of symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
ic writing. Different "dialects" or varieties
Variety (linguistics)

In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called a lect, is a language or dialect considered as a variety or development of another language or dialect....
 of leet are found on different online forums
Internet forum

An , or 'message board', is an online discussion site. It is the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system....
.

Initially, the word l33t was used as an adjective
Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntax role is to grammatical modifier a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition....
, to primarily describe the behavior or accomplishments of others in the community, with “lame” being its antonym. In that usage Leet generally carries the same meaning when referring to either the game prowess
Online game

An online game is a game played over some forms of Computer networking. At the present, this almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology; but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the internet, and hard wired Computer terminal before modems....
, n00b ownage, or, in original usage, hacking expertise of another person. From adjective form its use then expanded to include use as an expletive
Expletive

The word expletive is currently used in three senses: syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and "bad language".The word expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", via expletivus, "filling out"....
 or interjection
Interjection

An interjection is a part of speech that usually has no grammatical connection with the rest of the Sentence and simply expresses emotion on the part of the speaker, although most interjections have clear definitions....
 in reaction to a demonstration of the former qualities. With the mass proliferation of Internet use in the 1990s into the 21st century, Leet has since become a part of Internet culture and slang. Leet may also be considered a substitution cipher
Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption and decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure....
, albeit with much variation from user to user.

History

Leet originated within bulletin board systems in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a BBS
Bulletin board system

File:Monochrome-bbs.pngA Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running list of BBS software that allows User to Telecommunication circuit and Logging to the system using a terminal program....
 allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms. One theory is that it was developed to defeat text filters created by BBS or Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat

Internet Relay Chat is a form of real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for Many-to-many in discussion forums, called #Channels, but also allows One-to-one via instant messaging, as well as chat and data transfers via Direct Client-to-Client....
 system operators for message boards to discourage the discussion of forbidden topics, like cracking
Cracking

Cracking may refer to:* Cracking, the formation of a fracture or partial fracture in a solid material* Fluid catalytic cracking, a catalytic process widely used in oil refineries for cracking large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecules...
 and hacking
Hacker (computer security)

In common usage, a hacker is a person who breaks into computers. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground....
. However, creative misspellings and ASCII-art-derived words were also a way to attempt to indicate one was knowledgeable about the culture of computer users. Once the reserve of hackers
Hacker (computer security)

In common usage, a hacker is a person who breaks into computers. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground....
, crackers, and script kiddies, Leet has since entered the mainstream. It is now also used to mock newbie
Newbie

Newbie is a slang term for a newcomer to online gaming or an Internet activity. It can also be used for any other activity in whose context a somewhat clueless newcomer could exist....
s, or newcomers, on web sites, or in gaming communities. Some consider emoticons and ASCII art
ASCII art

ASCII art is a 20th century art movement that utilizes computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable character defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters ....
, like smiley faces, to be Leet, while others maintain that Leet consists of only symbolic word encryption. More obscure forms of Leet, involving the use of symbol combinations and almost no letters or numbers, continue to be used for its original purpose of encrypted communication. It is also sometimes used as a script language.

Orthography

One of the hallmarks of Leet is its unique approach to orthography
Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Orthography is derived from Greek language ????? orth?s and ???fe?? gr?phein ....
, using substitutions of other characters, letters or otherwise, to represent a letter or letters in a word. For more casual use of leet, the primary strategy is to use homoglyph
Homoglyph

In typography, a homoglyph is one of two or more grapheme with shapes that are either identical, or cannot be differentiated by quick visual inspection....
s, symbols that closely resemble (to varying degrees) the letters for which they stand. The symbol chosen is flexible—anything that the reader can make sense of is valid. However, this practice is not extensively used in regular Leet; more often it is seen in situations where the argot
Argot

Argot is a secret language used by various groups?including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals?to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations....
 (i.e., "secret language") characteristics of the system are required, either to exclude newbies or outsiders in general. Another use for Leet orthographic substitutions is the creation of paraphrased passwords. By using this method, one can create a relatively secure password which would still be easily remembered. Limitations imposed by websites on password length (usually no more than 36) and the characters permitted (usually alphanumeric and underscore) requires less extensive forms of Leet when used in this application.

Some examples of Leet include: B1FF
B1ff

B1ff is type of internet slang that was created in the early days of the Internet by groups who felt they were being watched by government officials or corporations....
 and n00b, a term for the stereotypical newbie
Newbie

Newbie is a slang term for a newcomer to online gaming or an Internet activity. It can also be used for any other activity in whose context a somewhat clueless newcomer could exist....
; the L33t programming language; and the webcomic Megatokyo
Megatokyo

Megatokyo is an English language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002....
, which contains characters who speak Leet.

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