Did you know that the online book community has its own language? If you are a lover of books and want the ultimate list of bookish words to use in the book community, I’ve got you covered!
Whether you are new to the online bookish community, or you paved the way for book lover’s to find a place to connect, this ultimate list of bookish words will help you navigate places like bookstagram, booktok, booktube, book blogs and more. So, without further ado, here are all the bookish terms you need to know.
Acronyms
- ARC (Advanced Reader Copy): A physical or digital copy of a book to be given to readers BEFORE the book is published and usually in exchange for an honest review, promo post, etc, in order to stir up excitement about the new book’s release
- AO3 (Archive of Our Own): website where fans connect and share fan-fiction stories
- TBR: A list of books To-Be-Read. For book lovers, this list is basically a mile long
- DNF: A book you Did Not Finish
- CR: Current Read
- MC: Main Character of a book
- MMC: Male Main Character of a book
- FMC: Female Main Character of a book
- HEA: Referring to a book that has a Happily Ever After
- YA: Books intended for Young Adults. Usually 13-18+
- NA: Books intended for New Adults. Usually 18-25+
- TW & CW: A list of Trigger Warnings or Content Warnings addressing themes or subjects some readers may be particularly sensitive to
- KU: Kindle Unlmited
- MF: Referring to relationships between males and females
- MM: Referring to relationships between two males
- FF: Referring to relationships between two females
- RH: Referring to a Reverse Harem relationship (i.e. one female in a relationship with multiple males)
- PNR: A Paranormal Romance book (generally includes vampires, witches, werewolves, etc)
- POV: Point of View
- B&N: Barnes and Nobles (bookstore)
- BOTM: Book of the Month
- GR: Goodreads website for book lovers
- HP: Harry Potter
- BAM: Books-A-Million (bookstore)
- HIFI: Historical Fiction
- MG: Books intended for middle grade readers. Usually 8-13+
- OTP: One True Pairing between fictional characters that a reader loves and wants to be together
- NOTP: Not One True Pairing. A fictional character pairing a reader dislikes or does not support
- POC: People of Color
- BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
- RTC: Review to Come
- SciFi: Science Fiction
- SFF: Science Fiction Fantasy
- SIMP: referring to a character that shows excessive sympathy to another character who does not show the same in return.
- SMOL: a small, cute little character
- SE: Sprayed Edge (of books đ
- TBB: To Be Bought
- TSTL: referring to a characer that is considered Too Stupid to Live by making unreasonable decisions despite knowing the risks
- UF: Urban Fantasy
- WIP: Work in Progress, relating to an authorâs unfinished work
- HOA HOA HOA: the start of the song, Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation in relation to the movie soundtrack for Twilight. Readers use it to refer to the gloomy yet cozy atmosphere during the fall season that creates the perfect reader ambience, especially for fans of the twilight books
Terms
- Mood Reader: a reader who chooses their books based on their current mood
- Reading Slump: not feeling like reading any books and is basically the worst feeling ever
- Buddy Read: reading a book with a book bestie
- Book Hangover: reading such an amazing book that you canât stop thinking about it after youâve finished and are unable to start another book because you are mentally still in the last one
- Shelfie: a photo of your book shelf
- Book Mail: books that you ordered or received as gifts in the mail
- Fandom: a large group of people who all love the same book (i.e. Harry Potter fandom)
- Book Stack: a photo of a stack of books
- Cliffhanger: the ending of a book in which the scene ends at a crucial point where anything could happen and consequently leaving you hanging off a precarious cliff
- Trope: a recurring theme, scene or dialogue found in book genres. (i.e. he says, âwho did this to you?â or, thereâs only one room at the inn for the MCâs. Bonus if they hate each other!)
- Book Nook: a small, cozy space for readers to cuddle up and read
- Ship: the relationship between two main characters you are cheering for
Bookish Types
- Book dragon: a reader who hoards books like a dragon hoards gold
- Book bee: a reader who bounces between multiple books at a time
- Book penguin: a reader who re-reads the same series over and over again
- Book fox: a reader who sneaks reading time in whenever and wherever they can
- Book owl: a reader who stays up all night reading âjust one more chapterâ
- Book cat: a reader always giving books as gifts
- Book cheetah: a reader who speed reads all their books
- Book worm: the classic book loving person
That’s a lot of bookish words! But now you have a place to reference when you come across a bookish word, phrase or acronym you might not know. Yay!
Need some book recommendations? Here’s a list of 14 no spice fairytale retellings to start reading today!
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