Cannabis Glossary: Plain-English Definitions

2

2018 Farm Bill: The federal law (Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) that removed hemp, defined as cannabis with no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight, from the Controlled Substances Act.

4

420: A slang term for cannabis that is also used for April 20 (4/20), an informal cannabis holiday.

5

510 thread: The most common screw-thread standard used to connect vape cartridges to batteries.

A

Adult-use: Legal cannabis sold to adults, usually 21 and older, without a medical recommendation.
Aeration: The exchange of gases through pore spaces in a growing medium.
Aggregate: A cluster of soil particles bound together into a larger unit.
Analytical method: A defined procedure for identifying or measuring substances in a sample.
Anandamide: An endocannabinoid the body makes that acts on cannabinoid receptors.
Ancillary business: A company that serves the cannabis industry, such as a packaging, lighting, or legal firm, without handling the plant itself.
Annual: A plant that completes its life cycle within one growing season.
Apical bud: A bud at the end of a shoot, associated with continued lengthwise growth.
Ash catcher: An attachment between a bong's bowl and body that catches ash and debris before they reach the main chamber.
Autoflower: A plant that starts flowering with age rather than in response to shorter days.
Axillary bud: A bud in the angle between a leaf and its stem.

B

Backcross: Breeding a plant with one of its parents, or a plant like that parent, to strengthen certain traits.
Bagseed: A seed found in purchased cannabis flower, usually with unknown genetics.
Banger: A bucket-shaped nail, usually quartz, that attaches to a dab rig and holds concentrate while it vaporizes.
Batch identifier: A code used to connect a product or sample with a particular production batch.
BHO: Butane hash oil: a concentrate extracted with butane as the solvent, which is then purged out.
Bioavailability: The share of a consumed compound that reaches the bloodstream.
Blunt: Cannabis rolled in a tobacco-leaf wrap or an emptied cigar shell.
Bong: A water pipe that draws smoke through water before it is inhaled.
Bowl: The part of a pipe or bong that holds cannabis flower while it is lit; also the amount of flower that fills it.
Bract: A modified leaf associated with a flower or flower cluster.
Branch: A lateral shoot arising from a main stem or another branch.
Broad-spectrum: Describes an extract that keeps several cannabinoids and other compounds but has had THC removed to very low or undetectable levels.
Bubble hash: Hash made by agitating plant material in ice water so the trichomes break off, then filtering them through mesh bags.
Bubbler: A small handheld water pipe that combines features of a pipe and a bong.
Bud: In everyday cannabis use, a dense cluster of female flowers, the part most people harvest.
Bud rot: Gray mold, caused mainly by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, that rots dense buds from the inside, usually in humid conditions.
Budder: A whipped, creamy concentrate with a soft, frosting-like texture.
Budtender: A dispensary employee who helps customers choose and buy cannabis products and answers questions about them.
Budvocate: A person who wants to really know their cannabis, from where a strain comes from to how to grow it, and who backs what they share with real sources
Burping: Briefly opening curing jars to let out moisture and gases and let fresh air in.

C

Cal-mag: A supplement that provides calcium and magnesium, used when plants show deficiencies, often with coco coir or filtered water.
Calyx: The collective sepals of a flower; not a general name for every flower structure.
Cannabinoid: One of a group of compounds associated with cannabis and the body’s cannabinoid signalling system.
Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome: A condition linked to long-term, heavy cannabis use that causes repeated episodes of severe nausea and vomiting.
Cannabis: A plant genus whose members produce cannabinoids, including THC and CBD.
Capsule: A swallowed pill or softgel containing a measured amount of cannabis oil.
Carb: A small hole on a pipe or bubbler that the user covers and uncovers to control airflow.
Carb cap: A small cover placed over a hot nail or banger to trap heat and control airflow so concentrate vaporizes at a lower temperature.
Carding: Checking a customer's ID to confirm legal age before a cannabis sale or delivery.
Cartridge: A small prefilled container of cannabis oil that attaches to a vape battery, usually with a heating element built in.
Caryophyllene: A peppery, spicy terpene found in cannabis, black pepper, and cloves that has been shown in lab studies to bind CB2 receptors.
Cashed: Slang for a bowl that has been fully smoked, leaving only ash.
CB1 receptor: A cannabinoid receptor found mainly in the brain and nervous system that THC activates to produce its intoxicating effects.
CB2 receptor: A cannabinoid receptor found mainly in immune cells and peripheral tissues.
CBC: Cannabichromene, a non-intoxicating minor cannabinoid.
CBD: Cannabidiol, a cannabis constituent that does not produce the characteristic THC high.
CBDA: Cannabidiolic acid, the acid form of CBD found in raw cannabis that converts to CBD when heated.
CBDV: Cannabidivarin, a non-intoxicating minor cannabinoid chemically related to CBD.
CBG: Cannabigerol, a minor cannabinoid formed when CBGA, the precursor the plant uses to make THCA, CBDA, and CBCA, is decarboxylated.
CBGA: Cannabigerolic acid, the precursor molecule the cannabis plant converts into THCA, CBDA, and CBCA.
CBN: Cannabinol, a cannabinoid that forms mainly as THC breaks down with age, heat, and light.
Certificate of analysis: A lab report showing a product batch's test results, such as cannabinoid potency and screens for contaminants like pesticides, mold, and heavy metals.
Chemovar: A plant type defined by its chemistry, such as its cannabinoids and terpenes, rather than its name.
Child-resistant packaging: Packaging designed so that young children have a hard time opening it while most adults can, required for cannabis products in most legal markets.
Chlorosis: Yellowing of leaf tissue caused by too little chlorophyll.
Chromatography: An analytical separation technique used to distinguish components within a mixture.
Clone: A plant produced asexually from another plant, retaining its genetic lineage.
Coco coir: A growing medium made from coconut husk fiber.
Cola: A dense cluster of buds growing along the top of a main stem or branch.
Compaction: Compression of soil that reduces pore space and can restrict movement of air and water.
Concentrate: A cannabis product made by separating and collecting the plant's resin, leaving a much higher concentration of cannabinoids and terpenes than flower.
Cottonmouth: A dry, sticky feeling in the mouth that commonly follows cannabis use.
Couch-lock: Slang for a heavy, sedated feeling after cannabis use that makes a person not want to move.
Crumble: A dry, crumbly concentrate that breaks apart easily.
Crutch: A small rolled piece of stiff paper or card placed at the mouth end of a joint to hold its shape and keep plant material out of the mouth.
Cultivar: A cultivated plant variety selected for particular characteristics.
Curing: Keeping dried flower in closed containers, opened from time to time, so moisture evens out slowly and aroma is kept.

D

Dab: A small portion of cannabis concentrate that is vaporized on a heated surface and inhaled; 'dabbing' is the act of doing so.
Dab rig: A water pipe built for vaporizing concentrates, fitted with a nail or banger instead of a bowl.
Dabber: A small metal, glass, or ceramic tool used to pick up and place concentrates.
Dank: Slang for flower that is fragrant and of high quality.
Decarboxylation: The heat-driven chemical reaction that converts acid cannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA into THC and CBD.
Decriminalization: Reducing penalties for certain cannabis offenses, often to a civil fine, without creating a legal market.
Deep water culture: A hydroponic method in which roots hang in an aerated, nutrient-rich water reservoir.
Defoliation: Removing some fan leaves to improve light reaching lower bud sites and airflow through the canopy.
Delta-10 THC: A THC isomer that occurs naturally only in trace amounts and is usually produced synthetically from hemp-derived CBD.
Delta-8 THC: An intoxicating THC isomer found in only trace amounts in cannabis, usually made by chemically converting hemp-derived CBD.
Delta-9 THC: The main intoxicating cannabinoid in cannabis; what most people mean by 'THC'.
Diamonds: Crystalline concentrate, most often THCA, that forms solid chunks during extraction.
Dispensary: A licensed retail store that sells cannabis products to registered patients, adults of legal age, or both, depending on local law.
Distillate: A refined cannabis oil with most other plant compounds removed, leaving a single cannabinoid at high concentration.
DLI: Daily light integral: the total amount of photosynthetic light a plant receives in a day, measured in mol/m²/day.
Downstem: The tube on a bong or rig that carries smoke or vapor from the bowl or nail down into the water.
Drainage: The movement of excess water out of soil or a growing container.
Dry trim: Trimming leaves from buds after the plant has been hung to dry.
Dugout: A small carrying case that holds ground flower and a one-hitter together.

E

E-nail: An electronic heating coil and controller that keeps a dab nail at a set temperature without using a torch.
Edible: A food or drink made with cannabis, eaten or swallowed rather than inhaled.
Eighth: One-eighth of an ounce of cannabis, sold as 3.5 grams.
Electrical conductivity: A measure of dissolved salts in water or a nutrient solution, used as a rough guide to nutrient strength.
Endocannabinoid: A cannabinoid-signalling compound produced within the body.
Endocannabinoid system: The body's signaling network of endocannabinoids, cannabinoid receptors, and the enzymes that make and break them down.
Entourage effect: The hypothesis that cannabinoids, terpenes, and other cannabis compounds act together to shape effects differently than any single compound alone.
Exotic: Slang for rare or trendy high-grade cannabis, often newer named strains.

F

Fan leaf: One of the large, finger-shaped leaves that collect most of the plant's light.
Feminized seed: A seed bred to grow into a female plant, the sex that produces the buds sold as flower.
Fire: Slang describing cannabis, or anything, as excellent.
Flavonoid: A group of plant compounds involved in color, such as purple hues, and in flavor, found in cannabis and many other plants.
Flower: The dried buds of the female cannabis plant, and the stage of growth when the plant forms them.
Flowering stage: The growth phase when a plant develops buds, triggered by longer nights in photoperiod plants.
Flushing: Watering with plain water, usually late in flower, to reduce the nutrients in the growing medium.
Fresh frozen: Cannabis that is frozen right after harvest, without drying, to be used for live concentrates.
Full melt: A high grade of hash that melts almost completely when heated, leaving little residue.
Full-spectrum: Describes an extract that keeps a broad range of the plant's cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds, including THC.
Fungus gnats: Small dark flies whose larvae live in moist growing media and feed on organic matter and sometimes roots.

G

Gas: Slang for cannabis with a fuel-like, sharp aroma, and by extension potent, high-quality flower.
Genotype: An organism’s genetic makeup, distinct from the traits it visibly expresses.
Germination: The process in which a seed resumes growth and begins forming a seedling.
Gram: The smallest common retail amount of cannabis flower, one gram (about 0.035 ounces).
Greening out: Slang for feeling sick after taking more cannabis than intended, with symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, anxiety, or a racing heart.
Grinder: A tool that breaks dried flower into small, even pieces.

H

Half: Half an ounce of cannabis, sold as 14 grams.
Half-life: The time it takes for the amount of a compound in the body to drop by half.
Harvest window: The period when buds are considered ready to harvest, often judged by trichome color and pistil changes.
Hash: A concentrate made by collecting and compressing trichomes separated from the plant.
Head shop: A retail store that sells smoking accessories such as pipes, bongs, papers, and vaporizers.
Hemp: Cannabis grown for fiber, seed or CBD and legally defined by a low THC limit. The exact limit depends on where you are.
Hermaphrodite: A cannabis plant that grows both male and female flowers, which can pollinate its own buds or nearby plants.
High: The altered state of mind and body produced mainly by THC.
Hotbox: To smoke cannabis in a small enclosed space, such as a car, so the smoke fills the air.
Humidity dome: A clear plastic cover placed over seedlings or cuttings to keep humidity high while they root.
Humidity pack: A packet that releases or absorbs moisture to keep stored flower at a target relative humidity.
Humulene: An earthy, woody terpene found in cannabis and hops.
Hybrid: A plant bred from two genetically different parents. In shops, it usually means a strain with both indica and sativa ancestry.
Hydroponics: Growing plants with their roots in a nutrient solution rather than soil.

I

Illicit market: Cannabis sold outside the legal, licensed, and regulated system.
Impaired driving: Operating a vehicle while affected by cannabis or other substances, which slows reaction time and is illegal in every US state.
Indica: A label for cannabis plants traditionally described as short and broad-leaved. It says more about shape and ancestry than about how a strain will feel.
Infused pre-roll: A pre-roll that has concentrate such as hash, kief, or oil added inside or coated on the outside.
Integrated pest management: A pest-control approach that combines prevention, monitoring, and targeted treatments to use pesticides only when needed.
Interlaboratory comparison: A study in which multiple laboratories measure shared samples to compare analytical results.
Internode: The length of stem separating two neighbouring nodes.
Interveinal chlorosis: Yellowing between a leaf's veins while the veins themselves stay green.
Isolate: A product refined to contain a single cannabinoid, such as CBD or THCA, with other plant compounds removed.

J

Joint: Ground cannabis flower rolled in thin rolling paper for smoking.

K

Kief: Loose trichomes that fall away from dried flower, often collected in the screen of a grinder.
Kush: A family of strains descended from cannabis originally grown in the Hindu Kush mountain region, often with earthy, piney, or fuel aromas; also used loosely as slang for cannabis.

L

Laboratory quality assurance: Processes used to support the reliability and comparability of laboratory measurements.
Landrace: A traditional regional variety, shaped by long cultivation in one place.
Light deprivation: Covering plants to block light for part of the day so they start flowering earlier than the natural season.
Limonene: A citrus-scented terpene found in cannabis and citrus peels.
Linalool: A floral terpene found in cannabis and lavender.
Lineage: A strain's reported ancestry. It usually comes from the breeder and is rarely confirmed by genetic testing.
Live resin: A concentrate extracted from plants frozen right after harvest instead of dried and cured, made to keep more of the original aroma.
Live rosin: A solventless concentrate pressed from ice water hash made with freshly frozen plants.
Living soil: Soil managed to support an active community of microbes and fungi that break down organic matter and supply nutrients, instead of relying mainly on bottled fertilizer.
Lollipopping: Pruning the lower growth of a plant that gets little light so it puts its energy into the top bud sites.
Loud: Slang for cannabis with a strong, pungent aroma, often implying high quality.
Low-stress training: Gently bending and tying down a plant's stems so the canopy grows wider and flatter, letting more bud sites get light.

M

Macronutrient: A nutrient plants need in relatively large amounts, such as nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium.
Marijuana: A common term for cannabis material, often used for products containing appreciable THC.
Mass spectrometry: An analytical technique that distinguishes ions by their mass-to-charge ratios.
Medical cannabis: Cannabis used under a state program that lets qualifying patients use it with a healthcare provider's recommendation.
Medical card: A state-issued registration card that lets a qualifying patient buy cannabis through the state's medical program.
Microdosing: Taking very small amounts of cannabis, often 1 to 2.5 mg of THC, aiming for subtle effects without a strong high.
Micronutrient: A nutrient plants need only in small amounts, such as iron, manganese or zinc.
Mids: Slang for mid-grade or average-quality cannabis.
Moon rocks: Cannabis buds coated in concentrate oil and rolled in kief.
Mother plant: A plant kept in the vegetative stage so cuttings can be taken from it to make clones.
MSO: Multi-state operator: a cannabis company licensed to operate in more than one state.
Mycotoxin: A toxic compound produced by certain molds, which some states require cannabis labs to test for.
Myrcene: A common cannabis terpene with an earthy, musky, or fruity aroma, also found in hops and mango.

N

Nail: The heated piece on a dab rig where concentrate is vaporized, commonly made of quartz, titanium, ceramic, or glass.
Necrosis: The death of plant tissue, usually showing as dry brown patches.
Nectar collector: A straw-shaped device with a heatable tip that is touched to concentrate to vaporize it.
Net pot: A plant-support container with openings that allow roots to reach the surrounding solution.
Node: A position on a stem where leaves and associated buds attach.
Nug: A single piece of dried cannabis flower.
Nutrient deficiency: When a plant gets too little of a nutrient to grow normally. Symptoms overlap with other problems, so they rarely confirm one on their own.
Nutrient lockout: When a nutrient is present in the root zone but the plant can't take it up, often because pH is out of range.
Nutrient toxicity: Harm caused by too much of a nutrient, often showing up as burnt tips or dark, stressed leaves.

O

Observation log: A dated record of what you noticed and what you changed.
One-hitter: A narrow pipe designed to hold enough flower for a single small inhalation.
Onset: The time between using cannabis and starting to feel its effects.
Organic matter: Material derived from living organisms, including decaying plant remains in soil.
Ounce: A unit of weight equal to about 28 grams; in cannabis retail it is sold as 28 grams.

P

Percolator: A glass chamber inside a bong or dab rig that breaks smoke or vapor into smaller bubbles as it passes through water.
Perlite: Light, expanded volcanic glass mixed into a growing medium to improve drainage and air.
Petiole: The stalk connecting a leaf blade to the stem.
pH: A measure of how acidic or alkaline water, soil, or nutrient solution is, on a scale of 0 to 14, which affects which nutrients roots can take up.
Pheno hunting: Growing many plants from the same seeds and selecting the ones with the best traits.
Phenotype: Observable traits arising from the interaction of genetics and environment.
Photoperiod: The daily ratio of light to dark hours; photoperiod cannabis plants begin flowering when nights grow long enough.
Pinene: A pine-scented terpene found in cannabis and conifers, occurring as alpha- and beta-pinene.
Pipe: A small handheld device, often glass, with a bowl and mouthpiece for smoking cannabis flower.
Pistil: The female reproductive structure of a cannabis flower, including the hair-like stigmas that catch pollen.
Pod: A small, often disposable cannabis-oil container that clicks into a matching proprietary vape battery instead of screwing on.
Pollen: The reproductive grains that carry the male gametophytes of seed plants.
Popcorn bud: Small buds, usually from the lower branches of a plant, often sold for less than larger buds.
Possession limit: The maximum amount of cannabis a person may legally possess under state or local law.
Potency: How much of an active compound, usually THC, a product contains, normally given as a percentage by weight.
Powdery mildew: A fungal disease that leaves white, powdery patches on leaves and can spread to buds.
PPFD: Photosynthetic photon flux density: how much usable light for photosynthesis hits a surface each second, measured in µmol/m²/s.
Pre-roll: A joint sold already rolled, usually in a tube or pack at a dispensary.
Purps: Slang for cannabis strains whose buds turn purple.

Q

QP: A quarter pound of cannabis, about 113 grams or four ounces.
Quarter: One-quarter of an ounce of cannabis, sold as 7 grams.

R

Re-up: Slang for buying more cannabis to restock a supply.
Reciprocity: A state policy that honors medical cannabis cards issued by other states.
Reference material: A material used as a point of comparison in measurement work.
Regular seed: A seed that has not been feminized and can grow into either a male or a female plant.
Residual solvents: Trace amounts of extraction solvents, such as butane or ethanol, left in a concentrate, which licensed labs test for.
Resin: The sticky substance made in trichomes, which holds most of the plant's cannabinoids and terpenes.
Roach: The small leftover end of a smoked joint or blunt.
Rolling papers: Thin sheets, often made from wood pulp, hemp, rice, or flax, used to roll joints and spliffs.
Root zone: The region of a growing medium occupied by a plant’s roots.
Rooting hormone: A gel, powder, or liquid containing auxins that helps cuttings form roots.
Rosin: A solventless concentrate made by pressing flower or hash with heat and pressure to squeeze out resin.
RSO: Rick Simpson Oil: a dark, thick, whole-plant cannabis oil made with a solvent, commonly ethanol, usually eaten or applied rather than smoked.
Runoff: The water that drains out of a pot after watering, which growers often test to check pH and nutrient strength.

S

Sativa: A label for cannabis plants traditionally described as tall and narrow-leaved. It says more about shape and ancestry than about how a strain will feel.
Sauce: A runny, terpene-rich concentrate, often sold with crystalline THCA chunks mixed in.
Schedule I: The strictest category of the federal Controlled Substances Act, for drugs considered to have high abuse potential and no accepted medical use.
Schwazzing: An extreme form of defoliation in which nearly all fan leaves are removed at set points during flowering.
SCROG: Short for 'screen of green': training plants through a horizontal net or screen so many shoots grow up evenly.
Seed-to-sale tracking: A state-required system that records each cannabis plant and product from cultivation through final sale.
Senescence: The natural aging and breakdown of plant tissue. Late in flower, fan leaves yellow as the plant draws nutrients out of them.
Session: A period of time spent consuming cannabis, often in a group.
Shake: Small loose pieces of flower that break off buds during handling and packaging.
Shatter: A hard, glassy, usually translucent concentrate that can snap like brittle candy.
Shoot: A stem together with the leaves and buds it bears.
Sinsemilla: Seedless cannabis flower from unpollinated female plants.
Soil structure: The arrangement of soil particles into aggregates and the spaces between them.
Soil texture: The relative amounts of sand, silt and clay in a soil.
Solventless: Describes concentrates made with only water, ice, heat, pressure, or screens, with no chemical solvent.
Spider mites: Tiny sap-feeding arachnids that cause speckled leaves and fine webbing, especially in hot, dry conditions.
Spliff: A hand-rolled smoke containing a mix of cannabis and tobacco.
Start low, go slow: Safety guidance to begin with a small amount of cannabis, especially THC edibles, and wait before taking more.
Stem: The plant axis that supports leaves and reproductive structures and connects them with the roots.
Stigma: The pollen-receiving surface of a flower’s female reproductive structure.
Strain: A named variety of cannabis. The name alone is no guarantee: plants sold under one name can differ in genetics and chemistry.
Stretch: The rapid upward growth many photoperiod plants put on during the first two to four weeks after flowering is triggered.
Substrate: The material roots grow in, such as soil, coco coir or rockwool.
Sugar leaf: One of the small leaves growing among the flowers, often dusted with trichomes.
Sugar wax: A concentrate with a grainy, wet-sugar texture.

T

Terpene: An aromatic compound made by the plant, largely in its trichomes, that gives a strain much of its smell and taste.
Terpinolene: A terpene with a fresh, piney, floral, and slightly citrus aroma, dominant in a smaller number of strains.
THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol; the cannabis constituent chiefly associated with intoxication.
THCA: Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, the non-intoxicating acid form of THC found in raw cannabis that converts to THC when heated.
THCV: Tetrahydrocannabivarin, a minor cannabinoid related to THC, found in higher amounts in some strains.
Tincture: A liquid cannabis extract, usually in alcohol or oil, taken by dropper under the tongue or mixed into food or drink.
Tolerance: A reduced response to cannabis after repeated use, so the same amount produces weaker effects.
Tolerance break: A planned pause from cannabis use, usually days to weeks, intended to lower tolerance.
Top dressing: Adding compost, amendments, or dry fertilizer to the surface of the growing medium without repotting.
Top shelf: Slang for a dispensary's highest-grade and usually most expensive flower.
Topical: A cannabis-infused lotion, balm, or oil applied to the skin.
Topping: Cutting off the main growing tip of a young plant so it grows two main shoots instead of one.
Transdermal: Designed to deliver cannabinoids through the skin into the bloodstream, such as a patch.
Trichome: A hair-like outgrowth on a plant surface; some trichomes are glandular.
Trim: Leaf material, mainly sugar leaves, cut from buds after harvest, often used to make concentrates or edibles.

V

Vape pen: A slim, handheld vaporizer, usually a battery paired with a cartridge or pod of cannabis oil.
Vaporizer: A device that heats cannabis enough to release its compounds as vapor, without burning it.
Vegetative propagation: Producing plants from vegetative tissue rather than from sexual reproduction through seed.
Vegetative stage: The growth phase after the seedling stage and before flowering, when a plant grows stems and leaves but not buds.
VPD: Vapor pressure deficit: the difference between how much moisture the air holds and how much it could hold when saturated, which affects how fast plants transpire.

W

Wax: A soft, opaque concentrate with a waxy texture.
Wet trim: Trimming leaves from buds right after harvest, before drying.
Winterization: An extraction step that dissolves oil in alcohol and chills it so fats and waxes separate out and can be filtered away.

Y

Yield: The amount of usable dried flower a plant or grow produces.