60 cubing words
Rubik's Cube glossary: from AUF to WCA.
Cubers have a language of their own. Here it is in plain English, with links to the pages that explain each idea.
A
- Algorithm (alg)
- A fixed sequence of moves that does one job and leaves the rest of the cube alone, for example the T-perm. Cubers memorise algorithms rather than working them out each time. Learn more →
- Ao5 and Ao12
- Average of 5 and average of 12: the mean of your last five or twelve solves after dropping the fastest and slowest. It is how competitions rank cubers. Learn more →
- AUF
- Adjust U Face: a turn of the top layer before or after an algorithm to line the pieces up. An AUF can be U, U' or U2, and part of learning PLL is not doing it twice. Learn more →
B
- Back (B)
- The face away from you. B turns it clockwise as if you were looking at it from behind. Learn more →
- Bar
- Three matching stickers in a row along one side of the last layer: a solved corner, edge and corner. Spotting bars is how cubers recognise PLL cases. Learn more →
- Beginner method
- Also called layer by layer: solve the white cross, the white corners, the middle layer, then the yellow layer, with a few short algorithms. Learn more →
- Blindfolded solving (BLD)
- Memorising a scrambled cube, putting on a blindfold and solving it without looking. It is an official event in cubing competitions.
C
- Centre
- The middle piece of each face. On a 3×3 the six centres never move relative to each other, so they show what colour each face is. Learn more →
- CFOP
- The most common speedcubing method, named after its four stages: Cross, F2L (first two layers), OLL (orient the last layer) and PLL (permute the last layer). Also called the Fridrich method. Learn more →
- Commutator
- A sequence of the form A B A' B': do something, do something else, then undo them in the same order. It is a tool for building algorithms that change only a few pieces. Learn more →
- Corner
- A piece with three coloured stickers, in a corner of the cube. A 3×3 has eight. Learn more →
- Cross
- Four edges of one colour, matched to their centres, around the centre of one face. The first step of both the beginner method and CFOP. Learn more →
- Cubie
- Any one of the small pieces that make up the cube: corners, edges and centres.
D
- Daisy
- Four white edges around the yellow centre, with their white stickers facing the yellow centre. It is a stepping stone to the white cross. Learn more →
- Dedge
- A pair of matching edge pieces on a 4×4 or bigger cube that sit side by side, so they can move like one edge on a 3×3.
- DNF
- Did Not Finish: a solve that is not counted, for example when the cube was not completely solved or the solve ran over the time limit.
- Dot
- A last layer that shows only its yellow centre and no yellow edges on top. It is the hardest starting pattern for the yellow cross. Learn more →
- Down (D)
- The bottom face. D turns it clockwise as seen from below. Learn more →
E
- Edge
- A piece with two coloured stickers, between two faces. A 3×3 has twelve. Learn more →
F
- F2L
- First Two Layers: solving the first layer's corners together with the middle layer's edges, one corner-and-edge pair at a time. Learn more →
- Face
- One of the six flat sides of the cube.
- Finger tricks
- Ways of turning layers with a flick of the fingers rather than moving the whole hand, so moves flow without pausing.
- Front (F)
- The face towards you. F turns it clockwise as seen from the front. Learn more →
G
- God's number
- The largest number of moves ever needed to solve a 3×3 from any position, if you always choose the best moves. It is 20 when a half turn counts as one move. Learn more →
H
- Headlights
- Two matching corner stickers on one side of the last layer with a different colour between them, like a car's two headlights. Learn more →
I
- Inspection
- The time before a solve when you may look at the scrambled cube but not turn it. In official competitions it is 15 seconds. Learn more →
- Inverse
- The sequence that undoes another: the same moves backwards, each one reversed. The inverse of R U R' is R U' R'. Learn more →
L
- Last layer (LL)
- The final layer to be solved, usually the yellow one on top. In CFOP it is solved with OLL and PLL. Learn more →
- Layer
- A slice of three by three pieces. A 3×3 has three layers in each of three directions.
- Left (L)
- The face on your left. L turns it clockwise as seen from the left. Learn more →
- Lookahead
- Spotting the next pieces while your hands are doing the current move, so that you never stop to look. It is the skill that separates fast solves from very fast ones.
- Lube
- Lubricant. Cubers put a few drops of silicone-based lube inside a speedcube to make it turn smoothly. Learn more →
M
- M, E and S slices
- The three middle layers: M is the middle slice between L and R (it turns like L), E is the layer between U and D (it turns like D) and S is the layer between F and B (it turns like F). Learn more →
- Magnetic cube
- A speedcube with tiny magnets in its pieces that help layers click into place and stop it overshooting.
N
- Notation
- The letters used to write moves: R, L, U, D, F and B for the faces, an apostrophe for anticlockwise and a 2 for a half turn. Learn more →
O
- OLL
- Orientation of the Last Layer: turning every piece of the last layer so that the top face is one colour. There are 57 OLL cases. Learn more →
- One-handed (OH)
- Solving with one hand. It is an official event, and many cubers learn special algorithms for it.
- Orientation
- Which way a piece is turned. A corner or edge can be in the right place but twisted or flipped. Learn more →
P
- Parity
- A rule that cannot be broken on a 3×3: if two edges are swapped, two corners must be swapped too. On bigger cubes, the same idea creates extra cases that need special algorithms. Learn more →
- Permutation
- Which piece is in which place. PLL permutes the pieces of the last layer. Learn more →
- PLL
- Permutation of the Last Layer: moving the pieces of the last layer into the right places once the top is one colour. There are 21 PLL cases. Learn more →
- Pop
- When a piece comes out of the cube during a solve. It can be pushed back in, but a cube that pops a lot may need adjusting.
- Prime (')
- The apostrophe in notation. R' is said 'R prime' and means turn the right face anticlockwise.
- Pyraminx
- A pyramid-shaped twisty puzzle with four faces. It is one of the official puzzles in competitions. Learn more →
R
- Right (R)
- The face on your right. R turns it clockwise as seen from the right. Learn more →
- Roux
- A speedcubing method built from blocks on the left and right sides and then the middle slice. It is named after its inventor, Gilles Roux.
S
- Scramble
- The sequence of moves that mixes up a cube before a solve. Learn more →
- Sexy move
- The nickname for R U R' U'. Doing it six times in a row returns the cube to where it started. Learn more →
- Slice
- A middle layer that is not on the outside of the cube: M, E and S.
- Speedcube
- A cube designed for fast turning, usually with adjustable springs and often magnets.
- Speedcubing
- Solving puzzles as fast as possible. Competitions are run worldwide under the rules of the World Cube Association. Learn more →
- Sune
- The seven-move algorithm R U R' U R U2 R' that turns last-layer corners yellow. It is one of the first algorithms speedcubers learn. Learn more →
T
- TPS
- Turns Per Second: how many moves you make each second. It is a measure of how fast your fingers are rather than how efficient your solve is.
- Trigger
- A short, well-known sequence of three to six moves that appears inside many longer algorithms, such as R U R' U'. Learn more →
- Twist
- Turning a corner in place so that its colours face different directions, without moving it to another place. Learn more →
- Two-look OLL / PLL
- A way of learning OLL in two steps (the cross, then the corners) and PLL in two steps (corners, then edges) so that you need only a few algorithms at first. Learn more →
U
- Up (U)
- The top face. U turns it clockwise as seen from above. Learn more →
W
- WCA
- The World Cube Association, the organisation that runs official cubing competitions and keeps the records. Learn more →
- Wide move
- A turn of a face together with the layer next to it, written with a small w (Rw) or a lowercase letter (r). Learn more →
X
- x, y, z
- Turns of the whole cube: x turns it like R, y like U and z like F. No pieces move relative to each other. Learn more →
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