NFT Terms Glossary for Beginners
NFT content throws a lot of jargon at beginners — much of it borrowed from crypto generally, some of it unique to collectibles, and a few terms that mean different things depending on who is speaking. This glossary covers the words you will genuinely meet across this site and on marketplaces, grouped by where they appear rather than alphabetically.
Last reviewed: September 2026
Bookmark it: each term links to a full guide where one exists.
Wallets and access#
- Wallet
- — software (or a hardware device) that holds the keys controlling your crypto and NFTs. Your wallet is your login on most marketplaces; there is no separate account. See best NFT wallets for beginners.
- Seed phrase / recovery phrase
- — the list of words a wallet shows once at setup. Whoever has it owns the wallet. Never share it, never type it into a website.
- Hardware wallet
- — a physical device keeping keys offline; every transaction needs a physical on-device confirmation. See hardware wallet setup.
- Hot wallet
- — a wallet connected to the internet (browser extension, phone app). Convenient, but exposed to phishing and malware.
- Burner wallet
- — a separate wallet holding only what a risky action needs, so a bad signature cannot reach your main holdings. See organising NFTs across wallets.
- Address
- — the public string (e.g. 0x… on Ethereum) tokens are sent to. Safe to share; nothing can be taken with the address alone.
Buying, selling and prices#
- Minting
- — creating a new NFT on-chain, usually by buying directly from a project’s contract at launch. See what is NFT minting.
- Primary market / secondary market
- — primary is the initial mint or drop from the creator; secondary is resale between collectors on marketplaces.
- Marketplace
- — a platform where NFTs are listed and traded, e.g. OpenSea, Magic Eden. See best marketplaces for beginners.
- Floor price
- — the cheapest listed price in a collection right now. It is an asking price, not a guaranteed value. See what is a floor price.
- Volume
- — total traded value over a period. High volume can be faked — see wash trading.
- Listing
- — an owner’s offer to sell at a fixed price. The buyer pays it and the item transfers immediately.
- Offer / bid
- — a buyer’s stated price, which a seller may accept, ignore or let expire. Binding once accepted. See offers vs listed price.
- Gas fee
- — the network fee for processing any transaction, paid to the blockchain, not the marketplace. See what are gas fees.
- Royalty
- — a percentage of a resale going to the creator. Enforced on some platforms, optional on others. See how royalties work.
- Liquidity
- — how easily an NFT converts to cash near its listed price. See what is NFT liquidity.
- Slippage / spread
- — the gap between what sellers ask and what buyers bid; you “pay” the spread when you sell in a hurry.
Collections and traits#
- Collection
- — a set of NFTs issued under one project, usually sharing an art style or contract. Typical sizes range from hundreds to 10,000.
- Trait
- — an attribute of a token within a collection (background, eyes, clothing…). Trait frequencies drive rarity. See NFT rarity explained.
- Rarity / rarity score
- — how unusual a token’s trait combination is, condensed into a score or rank by rarity tools. Collection-specific.
- Metadata
- — the data attached to a token: name, image link, traits. Often stored off-chain. See what is NFT metadata.
- PFP
- — “profile picture”: an NFT used as an online identity/avatar. See PFP vs utility NFTs.
- Utility
- — functionality attached to an NFT beyond the image: access, membership, tickets, in-game use.
- Reveal
- — the moment a minted token’s artwork/traits become visible; many mints sell “unrevealed” tokens first.
- Whitelist / allowlist
- — pre-approved access to mint before or at a better price than the public sale. See whitelists explained.
- Snapshot
- — a record of who held what at a specific block/time, used to decide airdrop or whitelist eligibility.
Ownership and the blockchain layer#
- Blockchain
- — the shared public ledger recording who owns which token. Ownership claims are only as real as the on-chain record.
- Smart contract
- — a program on the blockchain enforcing a collection’s rules (supply, transfers, royalties). See malicious smart contracts.
- Token ID
- — an NFT’s unique number within its contract. #1234 of a collection is contract + token ID, nothing more mystical.
- Explorer
- — a public website for reading the blockchain (e.g. Etherscan for Ethereum). The ground truth for checking a transfer, contract or holder.
- Chain / network
- — the specific blockchain an NFT lives on (Ethereum, Solana, a Layer 2…). Sending an NFT to the wrong network can lose it.
- Layer 2 (L2)
- — a network built on top of another chain (usually Ethereum) for cheaper, faster transactions.
- Custodial vs self-custody
- — custodial means a platform holds keys for you (convenient, trust-based); self-custody means only you hold them (full control, full responsibility).
Community and culture terms#
- Holder
- — a wallet that owns a token. “Holder count” is a rough measure of how distributed a collection is.
- Whale
- — a wallet holding a large share of a collection or market. Whale moves can move floors; see how NFT communities work.
- Airdrop
- — a free token sent to wallets meeting some condition. Legitimate airdrops exist; unsolicited ones are often bait — never sign a transaction to “claim” an unknown token.
- Roadmap
- — a project’s stated plan. Treat it as marketing until delivered; promises are not enforceable.
- FOMO
- — “fear of missing out”: buying because others appear to be. The emotion scams are designed to trigger.
- DYOR
- — “do your own research”. Good advice, though often used to disclaim responsibility by the person shilling a project. See the due diligence checklist.
- Rug pull
- — when a project’s creators take the money and abandon it. See what is a rug pull.
- Wash trading
- — trading an NFT between wallets sharing an owner to fake volume. See NFT wash trading.
- Sweeping the floor
- — buying many of the cheapest listings in a collection at once, usually to push the floor up.
Terms that changed meaning#
A few words deserve care because usage shifted:
- “Drop” — once meant a scheduled release; now used loosely for any launch, including quiet ones with no countdown.
- “Blue chip” — borrowed from stock markets for collections treated as established. There is no official list; it is a nickname, not a rating.
- “Whitelist” — increasingly replaced by “allowlist” for the same thing: pre-approved mint access. Some projects use both words interchangeably.
- “Free mint” — never fully free: gas always applies, and the phrase is a favourite of scam pages. See how fake giveaways work.
Bottom line#
You do not need to memorise every term — you need to recognise the handful that affect your money: seed phrase, gas, floor price, listing vs offer, and the difference between primary and secondary.
Anything not covered here is probably explained inside the guides linked throughout.
