Pickleball terms: the words players actually use on court

Pickleball terms fall into a few buckets: shots, court areas, scoring calls, rule names, and slang. Learn a couple dozen and you'll follow any rec-game conversation. The pickleball terms and slang below are grouped so you can skim the category you need.

Pickleball terms for shots

Dink — A soft shot hit from at or near the kitchen line that arcs over the net and lands in the opponent's kitchen. "We dinked cross-court eight times before anyone found an attack."

Third shot drop — The serving team's third shot of the rally, floated softly into the kitchen so they can walk up to the line. "Their drop was short, so we took it out of the air."

Third shot drive — Same shot number, opposite idea: a hard, flat ball aimed at the opponents' feet or hip. "He drove the third and got the pop-up he wanted."

Reset — Any shot that takes pace off an incoming ball and lands it soft in the kitchen, usually hit under pressure from the transition zone. "She got smacked at, reset it, and the rally started over."

Volley — A ball hit out of the air before it bounces. Legal anywhere except while standing in the kitchen. "Punch the volley, don't swing at it."

Speed-up — Attacking a dink, usually out of the air, to turn a soft exchange into a fast one. "He sped up the middle and won the hands battle."

Hands battle (firefight) — The rapid volley exchange that follows a speed-up. Paddle up, no backswing, reflexes only.

Lob — A high ball hit over opponents standing at the kitchen line to push them back.

Overhead — The smash you hit off a lob or a pop-up. Called a put-away when it ends the rally.

ATP (around the post) — A shot that passes around the outside of the net post instead of over the net. No rule requires the ball to cross above net height, so if it lands in, it stands.

Erne — A volley taken beside the non-volley zone rather than behind it, reached by jumping across the corner of the zone and landing outside the sideline, or by stepping around it before the ball arrives. Your feet can't touch the zone during the volley or the landing. Named for Erne Perry, who popularized it.

Bert — An Erne played on your partner's side, crossing in front of them to take the ball.

Dink vs. drop vs. reset vs. drive

Shot	Hit from	Where it lands	What it's for
Dink	At the kitchen line	Opponent's kitchen	Deny an attack, force an error or a pop-up
Third shot drop	Baseline	Opponent's kitchen	Buy time to move up to the kitchen line
Reset	Transition zone, under pressure	Opponent's kitchen	Kill the pace of a hard ball and neutralize the point
Drive	Baseline or mid-court	Deep, or at an opponent's feet	Force a weak reply your partner can finish

Court areas and positioning terms

Kitchen (non-volley zone, NVZ) — The 7-foot area on each side of the net, spanning the full 20-foot width of the court. You can stand in it whenever you like; you just can't volley from it, and your momentum after a volley can't carry you in. The lines belong to the zone. More on the edge cases in pickleball kitchen rules.

Kitchen line (NVZ line) — The line 7 feet back from the net. Touching it while volleying is a fault, which is why good players talk about playing at the line rather than on it.

Transition zone (no-man's-land) — The stretch between the baseline and the kitchen line. You move through it; you don't camp in it.

Stacking — Lining both partners up on the same side before the serve or return so each ends up on their preferred side once the ball is live, often to keep a left-hander's forehand in the middle.

Poach — Crossing into your partner's half to take a ball they could have played.

Shake and bake — One partner drives from the back while the other crashes the kitchen line to put away the floaty reply.

Pickleball scoring terms

Traditional side-out scoring produces most of the pickleball terminology that trips up newcomers. Games go to 11, win by 2, though tournaments sometimes use 15 or 21. The full walkthrough lives in pickleball scoring.

Side out — The serving team lost the rally, so the serve passes to the other team. Under side-out scoring, only the serving team can add a point.

Server number — The third number in a doubles call. "8-5-2" means the serving team has 8, the receiving team has 5, and the second partner is serving. When that server loses a rally, it's a side out.

First server exception — The team serving first gets only one server before the side out, which is why a game opens at "0-0-2." Without it, that team would get two full service turns before their opponents ever served.

Rally scoring — A point is awarded on every rally no matter who served. USA Pickleball still treats side-out as the standard and has approved rally scoring only as an option a tournament director may select, mostly for round-robin and team play.

Calling the score out loud takes longest to become automatic, and mid-game disagreements about the count are near universal. Pickleball Scoreboard is a pickleball scoreboard app for iPhone and Apple Watch that tracks match scores, so the number is on your wrist instead of in someone's memory.

Rule and fault terms

Fault — Any violation that ends the rally: ball out, ball into the net, a kitchen violation, a serve that misses the service court.

Two-bounce rule (double bounce rule) — The serve has to bounce, the return has to bounce, and only then can anyone volley. It's what stops the serving team from serving and rushing the net.

Volley llama — A volley hit while standing in the non-volley zone. It's a fault, and someone will name it.

Let — A serve that clips the net and lands in the correct service court is simply live; USA Pickleball removed the service let in 2021. You'll still hear "let!" when a stray ball rolls on court, but that's a replay for a hindrance.

Nasty Nelson — A serve aimed at the receiver's partner. If it hits them, it's a fault on the receiving team, so the tactic is legal and deeply unpopular. What's legal on the serve itself is covered in pickleball serving rules.

Pickleball slang and on-court chatter

None of this is in the rulebook, but pickleball lingo travels fast and you'll hear most of it within a few sessions.

Banger — A player who drives nearly everything hard instead of playing the soft game. Not quite an insult.

Falafel — A shot struck with almost no power that dies short. Also called a dead paddle.

Dillball — A live ball that has bounced once in bounds and is still in play.

Chicken wing — The cramped, elbow-out volley you produce when a ball is driven at your backhand shoulder.

OPA! — Shouted after the third shot, once the two bounces are done and open volleying begins.

Pickled — Losing a game 11-0.

Paddle tap — Paddles touched at the net after the match instead of a handshake.

FAQ

What is a dink in pickleball?

A dink is a soft shot hit from at or near the kitchen line that arcs just over the net and lands in the opponent's non-volley zone. It's hit low and slow on purpose: a ball landing in the kitchen can't be volleyed, so the opponent has to let it bounce and hit up on it. At intermediate level and above, most points are set up by dinking rather than won by it.

What is an Erne in pickleball?

An Erne is a volley taken beside the non-volley zone instead of behind it, which lets a player hit out of the air right next to the net without breaking the kitchen rule. You get there by jumping across the corner of the zone and landing outside the sideline, or by stepping around it before the ball arrives. Your feet have to stay out of the zone through the volley and the landing.

Why is the pickleball kitchen called the kitchen?

There's no documented answer. The formal name is the non-volley zone, and "kitchen" is what everyone actually says. The explanation you'll hear most often borrows the word from shuffleboard, where the kitchen is a scoring area you want to stay out of, but that's folklore rather than a sourced origin.

What does 0-0-2 mean at the start of a game?

It's the opening call in doubles: zero for the serving team, zero for the receiving team, and "2" for the server number. Because the team serving first gets only one server before the side out, the game begins as though the first partner has already served. Every service turn after that gets both partners.