English
Style guide
The canonical written form of 521 Ethereum terms — how each one is spelled and capitalized, which forms to avoid, and what it means.
Allaccounts-keysconsensuscryptographydefidevelopmentethergeneralgovernanceidentitymevprotocol-upgradesscalingsmart-contractstokenstransactions
| Term | Category | Casing | Avoid | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51% attack | general | standard | ||
| Aave | general | proper | ||
| account | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| account abstraction | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| activation | consensus | standard | ||
| address | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| AI agent | general | fixed | ||
| airdrop | tokens | standard | ||
| allowance | tokens | standard | ||
| anonymity set | general | standard | ||
| anti-Sybil | general | fixed | ||
| application binary interface (ABI) | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| application programming interface (API) | development | standard | API | |
| approve | tokens | standard | ||
| APR | defi | uppercase | annual percentage rate | |
| APY | defi | uppercase | ||
| Arbitrum | general | proper | ||
| archive node | general | standard | ||
| ASIC | general | uppercase | ||
| assert | general | standard | ||
| attestation | consensus | standard | ||
| automated market maker (AMM) | defi | standard | automated market maker, AMM | |
| autonomous agent | general | standard | ||
| back-running | mev | standard | ||
| base fee | transactions | standard | ||
| batching | scaling | standard | ||
| beacon block | consensus | standard | ||
| beacon chain | consensus | standard | ||
| beacon node | consensus | standard | ||
| Berlin | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| Besu | general | proper | ||
| big-endian | general | standard | ||
| Binance | general | proper | ||
| Bitcoin | general | proper | ||
| blob | scaling | standard | ||
| blob fee | transactions | standard | ||
| blobspace | scaling | standard | ||
| block | general | standard | ||
| block builder | consensus | standard | ||
| block explorer | general | standard | ||
| block header | general | standard | ||
| block propagation | general | standard | ||
| block proposer | consensus | standard | ||
| block reward | general | standard | ||
| block status | general | standard | ||
| block time | general | standard | ||
| block validation | general | standard | ||
| blockchain | general | standard | ||
| blockchain oracle | defi | standard | ||
| BLS | cryptography | uppercase | Boneh-Lynn-Shacham | |
| BLS signature | cryptography | fixed | ||
| bootnode | general | standard | ||
| borrowing | defi | standard | ||
| bridge | scaling | standard | ||
| builder | consensus | standard | ||
| builder separation | consensus | standard | ||
| bundler | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| burn | tokens | standard | burning | |
| bytecode | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| Byzantium | protocol-upgrades | proper | Byzantium fork | |
| call data | smart-contracts | standard | call data, calldata, CALLDATA | |
| Cancun | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| Casper-FFG | consensus | fixed | casper ffgcasper FFGCasper FFG | Casper-FFG, Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget |
| censorship resistant | general | standard | ||
| chain | general | standard | ||
| Chainlink | defi | proper | ||
| Charles Hoskinson | general | proper | ||
| checkpoint | consensus | standard | ||
| Chrome | general | proper | ||
| churn limit | consensus | standard | ||
| claim | tokens | standard | ||
| client diversity | general | standard | ||
| cliff | tokens | standard | ||
| Coinbase | general | proper | ||
| cold wallet | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| collateral | defi | standard | ||
| collectible | tokens | standard | ||
| commitment | cryptography | standard | ||
| committee | consensus | standard | ||
| compiling | general | standard | ||
| composability | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| composable | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| computational infeasibility | general | standard | ||
| consensus | consensus | standard | ||
| consensus client | consensus | standard | ||
| consensus layer | consensus | standard | ||
| consensus mechanism | consensus | standard | ||
| consensus rules | consensus | standard | ||
| ConsenSys | general | fixed | ||
| considered for inclusion (CFI) | general | standard | ||
| Constantinople | protocol-upgrades | proper | Constantinople fork | |
| constructor | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| contract | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| contract account | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| contract creation transaction | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| cross-chain | scaling | standard | ||
| crypto | general | standard | ||
| cryptocurrency | ether | standard | ||
| cryptoeconomics | general | standard | ||
| cryptography | cryptography | standard | ||
| CryptoKitties | general | fixed | ||
| DAC | scaling | uppercase | data availability committee | |
| DAG | general | uppercase | DAG, directed acyclic graph | |
| Dagger-Hashimoto | cryptography | proper | ||
| DAI | tokens | uppercase | ||
| Danksharding | scaling | proper | ||
| data availability (DA) | scaling | standard | DA | |
| data availability layer | scaling | standard | DA layer | |
| data availability sampling (DAS) | scaling | standard | data availability sampling, DAS | |
| de-peg | defi | standard | ||
| decentralization | general | standard | ||
| decentralized | general | standard | ||
| decentralized application (dapp) | development | standard | DappDAppdApp | dapp, decentralized application |
| decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) | governance | standard | ||
| decentralized exchange (DEX) | defi | standard | ||
| decentralized finance (DeFi) | defi | standard | Decentralized Finance | DeFi, decentralized finance |
| decentralized identity (DID) | identity | standard | decentralized identity, DID | |
| decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) | general | standard | decentralized physical infrastructure, DePIN | |
| decentralized science (DeSci) | general | standard | decentralized science, DeSci | |
| decryption | general | standard | ||
| delegate | governance | standard | ||
| delegation | governance | standard | ||
| Dencun | protocol-upgrades | proper | dencunDENCUN | Cancun-Deneb |
| deploy | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| deployment | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| deposit contract | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| derivation path | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| devnet | general | standard | ||
| devp2p | development | fixed | ||
| difficulty | general | standard | ||
| difficulty bomb | general | standard | ||
| digital asset | ether | standard | ||
| digital signature | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| Discord | general | proper | ||
| discovery | general | standard | ||
| discv5 | development | fixed | ||
| distributed hash table (DHT) | cryptography | standard | ||
| distributed validator technology (DVT) | consensus | standard | distributed validator technology, DVT | |
| double-spend | general | standard | double spend | double-spend, double-spending |
| ECC | cryptography | uppercase | ||
| Echidna | development | proper | ||
| effective balance | consensus | standard | ||
| elliptic curve | cryptography | standard | ||
| elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| encryption | cryptography | standard | ||
| entropy | cryptography | standard | ||
| epoch | consensus | standard | ||
| equivocation | consensus | standard | ||
| erasure coding | scaling | standard | ||
| Erigon | general | proper | ||
| escape hatch | scaling | standard | ||
| ETH | ether | uppercase | ||
| eth1 | ether | standard | ||
| eth2 | ether | standard | ||
| ethash | cryptography | proper | ||
| ether | ether | standard | Ether | ETH |
| Ethereum | general | proper | ||
| Ethereum Classic | general | proper | ||
| Ethereum Foundation | general | proper | ||
| Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) | governance | fixed | ||
| Ethereum Mainnet | general | proper | ||
| Ethereum Name Service (ENS) | identity | proper | ||
| Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC) | protocol-upgrades | fixed | ||
| Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) | smart-contracts | proper | ||
| Etherscan | ether | proper | ||
| event | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| EVM assembly language | smart-contracts | fixed | ||
| execution client | general | standard | ||
| execution layer | general | standard | ||
| execution payload | consensus | standard | ||
| exit | consensus | standard | ||
| externally owned account (EOA) | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| general | proper | |||
| fallback function | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| faucet | development | standard | ||
| fault proof | scaling | standard | ||
| Filecoin | general | proper | ||
| finality | consensus | standard | ||
| finalized | general | standard | ||
| finney | general | standard | Finney | |
| flash loan | defi | standard | ||
| forced withdrawal | scaling | standard | ||
| fork | general | standard | ||
| fork choice algorithm | consensus | standard | ||
| formal verification | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| Foundry | development | proper | ||
| fractionalization | tokens | standard | ||
| fraud proof | general | standard | ||
| front-running | mev | standard | ||
| Frontier | general | proper | ||
| full node | general | standard | ||
| fungible token | tokens | standard | ||
| Fusaka | protocol-upgrades | proper | fusakaFUSAKA | Fusaka, Fulu-Osaka |
| gas | transactions | standard | ||
| gas fee | transactions | standard | ||
| gas limit | transactions | standard | ||
| gas optimization | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| gas price | transactions | standard | ||
| Gasper | consensus | proper | ||
| Gavin Wood | general | proper | ||
| genesis block | general | standard | ||
| Glamsterdam | protocol-upgrades | proper | glamsterdamGLAMSTERDAM | Glamsterdam, Amsterdam-Gloas |
| Go Ethereum (Geth) | ether | proper | Geth, Go Ethereum | |
| Goerli | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| gossip protocol | general | standard | ||
| governance | governance | standard | ||
| governance token | tokens | standard | ||
| guardian | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| gwei | transactions | standard | ||
| hard fork | general | standard | ||
| Hardhat | development | proper | ||
| hardware wallet | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| hash | cryptography | standard | ||
| hash function | cryptography | standard | ||
| hash rate | cryptography | standard | ||
| hashing | cryptography | standard | ||
| history expiry | general | standard | ||
| Holesky | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| holographic consensus | consensus | standard | ||
| Homestead | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| hot wallet | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| immutability | general | standard | ||
| immutable | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| immutable deployed code problem | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| impermanent loss | defi | standard | ||
| inactivity leak | consensus | standard | ||
| index | defi | standard | ||
| integrated development environment (IDE) | general | standard | ||
| intent | transactions | standard | ||
| internal transaction | transactions | standard | ||
| interoperability | scaling | standard | ||
| interoperable | general | standard | ||
| IPFS | development | uppercase | ||
| issuance | consensus | standard | ||
| Istanbul | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| Joseph Lubin | general | proper | ||
| JSON-RPC | development | standard | ||
| justified | consensus | standard | ||
| Keccak-256 | cryptography | fixed | ||
| KEVM | smart-contracts | uppercase | ||
| key | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| key derivation function (KDF) | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| keystore | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| Kurtosis | development | proper | ||
| KYC | identity | uppercase | know your customer | |
| KZG | cryptography | uppercase | Kate-Zaverucha-Goldberg | |
| layer 1 (L1) | general | standard | Layer 1layer-1Layer-1 | layer 1, L1 |
| layer 2 (L2) | scaling | standard | Layer 2layer-2Layer-2 | layer 2, L2 |
| lending | defi | standard | ||
| libp2p | development | fixed | ||
| library | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| Lido | general | proper | ||
| light client | general | standard | ||
| light node | general | standard | ||
| Lighthouse | general | proper | ||
| liquid staking | consensus | standard | ||
| liquid staking token (LST) | consensus | standard | LST, liquid staking token, liquid staking tokens | |
| liquidation | defi | standard | ||
| liquidity | defi | standard | ||
| liquidity pool | defi | standard | ||
| liquidity provider | defi | standard | ||
| liquidity tokens | defi | standard | ||
| LMD GHOST | consensus | fixed | lmd-ghostLmd Ghost | LMD GHOST, Latest Message Driven Greediest Heaviest Observed SubTree, LMD-GHOST |
| Lodestar | general | proper | ||
| log | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| LP token | tokens | fixed | LP token, liquidity provider token | |
| mainnet | general | standard | ||
| MakerDAO | general | fixed | ||
| Manticore | development | proper | ||
| max fee | transactions | standard | ||
| max fee per gas | transactions | standard | ||
| MaxEB | consensus | standard | MaxEB, maximum effective balance | |
| maximal extractable value (MEV) | mev | standard | ||
| mempool | transactions | standard | ||
| merkle patricia trie | cryptography | standard | ||
| Merkle proof | cryptography | standard | ||
| merkle root | cryptography | standard | ||
| merkle tree | cryptography | standard | ||
| message | general | standard | ||
| message call | general | standard | ||
| metadata | general | standard | ||
| MetaMask | general | fixed | ||
| MEV-Boost | mev | fixed | ||
| Microsoft | general | proper | ||
| miner | consensus | standard | ||
| mining | consensus | standard | ||
| mint | tokens | standard | ||
| minting | tokens | standard | ||
| MODEXP | defi | uppercase | ||
| modular blockchain | general | standard | ||
| monolithic blockchain | general | standard | ||
| multi-signature | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| multisig | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| Netflix | general | proper | ||
| Nethermind | general | proper | ||
| network | general | standard | ||
| network hashrate | cryptography | standard | ||
| Nimbus | general | proper | ||
| node | general | standard | ||
| non-custodial | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| non-fungible token (NFT) | tokens | standard | ||
| nonce | transactions | standard | ||
| nothing-at-stake problem | consensus | standard | ||
| off-ramp | general | standard | ||
| offchain | general | standard | off-chainoff chainOff-chain | |
| ommer block | general | standard | uncle blockUncle blockUNCLE block | ommer block, ommer (uncle) block |
| on-ramp | general | standard | ||
| onboarding | general | standard | ||
| onchain | general | standard | on-chainon chainOn-chain | |
| opcode | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| OpenSea | general | fixed | ||
| OpenZeppelin | development | fixed | ||
| Optimism | general | proper | ||
| optimistic rollup | scaling | standard | ||
| oracle | defi | standard | ||
| oracle problem | defi | standard | ||
| overcollateralization | defi | standard | ||
| overflow | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| passkey | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| paymaster | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| PayPal | general | fixed | ||
| Pectra | protocol-upgrades | proper | pectraPECTRA | Pectra, Prague-Electra |
| peer | general | standard | ||
| peer-to-peer | general | standard | ||
| PeerDAS | scaling | proper | PeerDAS, Peer Data Availability Sampling | |
| peg | defi | standard | ||
| pending transaction | transactions | standard | ||
| permissioned | general | standard | ||
| permissionless | general | standard | ||
| plasma | scaling | standard | ||
| POAP | tokens | uppercase | Proof of Attendance Protocol | |
| Polygon | general | proper | ||
| pooled staking | consensus | standard | ||
| Portal Network | development | proper | ||
| precompile | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| prediction market | defi | standard | ||
| price feed | defi | standard | ||
| price impact | defi | standard | ||
| priority fee | transactions | standard | ||
| privacy | general | standard | ||
| private chain | general | standard | ||
| private key | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| proof of attendance | general | standard | ||
| proof-of-authority (PoA) | consensus | fixed | proof-of-authority, PoA | |
| proof-of-stake (PoS) | consensus | fixed | proof-of-stake, proof of stake, PoS | |
| proof-of-work (PoW) | general | fixed | proof-of-work, proof of work, PoW | |
| proposal | governance | standard | ||
| proposer | consensus | standard | ||
| proposer boost | consensus | standard | ||
| proposer-builder separation (PBS) | consensus | standard | proposer-builder separation, PBS | |
| Proto-Danksharding | scaling | proper | ||
| protocol | general | standard | ||
| prover | scaling | standard | ||
| proxy contract | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| Prysm | general | proper | ||
| public good | governance | standard | ||
| public goods | general | standard | ||
| public key | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| quadratic funding | governance | standard | ||
| quadratic voting | governance | standard | ||
| RANDAO | governance | uppercase | ||
| randomness | cryptography | standard | ||
| re-entrancy attack | general | standard | ||
| real world assets (RWA) | general | standard | real world assets, RWA | |
| receipt | transactions | standard | ||
| Recursive Length Prefix (RLP) | general | standard | ||
| general | proper | |||
| reentrancy | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| reentrancy guard | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| regenerative finance (ReFi) | general | standard | regenerative finance, ReFi | |
| Remix | development | proper | ||
| reorg | consensus | standard | re-org | chain reorganization |
| require | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| restaking | consensus | standard | ||
| Reth | general | proper | ||
| retroactive public goods funding (RPGF) | general | standard | retroactive public goods funding, RPGF | |
| revert | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| reward | general | standard | ||
| rollup | scaling | standard | ||
| rollups | scaling | standard | ||
| Ropsten | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| sandwich attack | mev | standard | ||
| searcher | mev | standard | ||
| secret leader election | consensus | standard | secret leader election, SLE | |
| secure hash algorithm (SHA) | cryptography | standard | SHA | |
| seed phrase | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| self-custody | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| self-destruct | smart-contracts | standard | selfdestruct | |
| self-sovereignty | general | standard | ||
| Sepolia | general | proper | ||
| sequencer | scaling | standard | ||
| serialization | general | standard | ||
| settlement | scaling | standard | ||
| Shanghai | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| Shapella | protocol-upgrades | proper | shapellaSHAPELLA | Shapella, Shanghai-Capella |
| shard | cryptography | standard | shard, shard chain, sharding | |
| sidechain | scaling | standard | ||
| signature | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| signing | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| single slot finality | consensus | standard | ||
| singleton | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| SIWE | identity | uppercase | Sign In with Ethereum | |
| slash | consensus | standard | slash, slashing, slashed | |
| slasher | consensus | standard | ||
| slippage | defi | standard | ||
| Slither | development | proper | ||
| slot | consensus | standard | ||
| smart account | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| smart contract | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| SNARK | general | uppercase | ||
| social recovery | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| social slashing | consensus | standard | ||
| soft fork | general | standard | ||
| Solidity | smart-contracts | proper | ||
| solidity inline assembly | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| solo staking | consensus | standard | ||
| solver | transactions | standard | ||
| soulbound token (SBT) | tokens | standard | soulbound token, SBT | |
| source code verification | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| SSLE | consensus | uppercase | single secret leader election | |
| SSTORE | smart-contracts | uppercase | ||
| SSZ | development | uppercase | Simple Serialize | |
| stablecoin | defi | standard | ||
| stake | consensus | standard | staked, staker | |
| stake grinding | consensus | standard | ||
| staking | consensus | standard | ||
| staking as a service | consensus | standard | ||
| staking deposit | consensus | standard | ||
| staking pool | consensus | standard | ||
| STARK | general | uppercase | ||
| Starknet | general | proper | ||
| state | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| state bloat | general | standard | ||
| state channel | scaling | standard | ||
| state channels | scaling | standard | ||
| state expiry | general | standard | ||
| state trie | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| statelessness | general | standard | ||
| stealth address | identity | standard | ||
| storage trie | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| strategy | defi | standard | ||
| subgraph | development | standard | ||
| supermajority | consensus | standard | ||
| swap | defi | standard | ||
| Swarm | general | proper | ||
| Sybil attack | general | standard | ||
| sync | general | standard | sync, syncing, synced | |
| sync committee | consensus | standard | ||
| szabo | general | standard | Szabo | |
| TEE | cryptography | uppercase | trusted execution environment | |
| Teku | general | proper | ||
| Telegram | general | proper | ||
| Tellor | defi | proper | ||
| terminal total difficulty (TTD) | general | standard | ||
| testnet | general | standard | ||
| testnet faucet | development | standard | ||
| The Merge | protocol-upgrades | fixed | ||
| throughput | scaling | standard | ||
| tip | transactions | standard | ||
| token | tokens | standard | ||
| token factory | tokens | standard | ||
| token URI | tokens | fixed | ||
| tokenization | tokens | standard | ||
| total value locked (TVL) | general | standard | total value locked, TVL | |
| transaction | transactions | standard | TX | |
| transaction fee | transactions | standard | ||
| transaction hash | transactions | standard | ||
| transaction pool | transactions | standard | ||
| transfer | tokens | standard | ||
| treasury | governance | standard | ||
| trust assumptions | general | standard | ||
| trust-minimized | general | standard | ||
| trusted setup | cryptography | standard | ||
| trustless | general | standard | ||
| trustlessness | general | standard | ||
| Turing complete | general | standard | ||
| general | proper | |||
| Uniswap | defi | proper | ||
| unstaking | consensus | standard | ||
| upgradeable contract | smart-contracts | standard | ||
| USDC | tokens | uppercase | ||
| user operation | accounts-keys | standard | user operation, UserOperation | |
| utility token | tokens | standard | ||
| UTXO | general | uppercase | ||
| validator | consensus | standard | ||
| validator lifecycle | consensus | standard | ||
| validity proof | scaling | standard | ||
| validium | scaling | standard | ||
| vault | defi | standard | ||
| verifiable credential | identity | standard | ||
| verifier | scaling | standard | ||
| Verkle trees | protocol-upgrades | proper | ||
| vesting | tokens | standard | ||
| Vitalik Buterin | general | proper | ||
| vote | governance | standard | voting | |
| Vyper | smart-contracts | proper | ||
| wallet | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| WBTC | tokens | uppercase | ||
| weak subjectivity | consensus | standard | ||
| web 3.0 | general | fixed | ||
| web2 | general | standard | ||
| web3 | development | fixed | ||
| wei | transactions | standard | ||
| Wei Dai | general | proper | ||
| whitepaper | general | standard | ||
| withdrawal | consensus | standard | ||
| withdrawal credentials | consensus | standard | ||
| witness | general | standard | ||
| Wrapped Ether (WETH) | ether | proper | Wrapped Ether, WETH | |
| wrapped token | tokens | standard | ||
| yellow paper | general | standard | ||
| yield farming | defi | standard | ||
| YouTube | general | fixed | ||
| zero address | accounts-keys | standard | ||
| zero-knowledge | scaling | standard | zero knowledge | ZK |
| zero-knowledge proof | scaling | standard | ZK ProofZK proof | zero-knowledge proof, ZKP, ZK-proof |
| zero-knowledge rollup | scaling | standard | ||
| ZK-SNARK | scaling | fixed | zkSNARKzk-snarkZKSNARK | |
| ZK-STARK | scaling | fixed | zkSTARKzk-starkZKSTARK | |
| zkEVM | scaling | fixed | ZK-EVMzk-evmZKEVM | |
| ZKsync | general | fixed |
521 terms