Graffiti Terms

Angel

Graffiti term ‘angel’ is most commonly used when referring to a famous or highly respected graffiti artist who has passed away.

King

‘King’ (or ‘queen’ for female writers) is a graffiti writer who is especially respected among other writers. Some people refer to different writers as kings of different graffiti styles, and the term is regionally subjective.

Married Couple

In graffiti world, the term ‘married couple’ refers to two simultaneous train cars painted next to each other with a single painting evenly spread across both cars.

Heaven Spot

‘Heaven spot’, or ‘heaven’ in short, is a graffiti term which refers to dare devil graffiti pieces that are painted in places that are hard to reach, such as rooftops, overpasses and freeway signs, thus making them hard to remove.

Piece

The graffiti term ‘piece’, short of masterpiece, is used to describe a large, complex, time-consuming and labor-intensive graffiti painting, usually painted by skilled and experienced writers.

Tag

Tag is the most basic and the most prevalent form of graffiti. Graffiti tag is usually written with marker or spray paint and in one color, which is sharply contrasted with its background. Tag is a stylized personal signature and contains graffiti writer’s name, also known as a moniker.

Back to Back

The term ‘back to back’ refers to graffiti piece that is painted all the way across a wall, from end to end.

Throw-Up

‘Throw-up’ or ‘throwie’ is a widely referenced graffiti term, most commonly used to describe tag-like drawings of bubble letters designed for quick execution (we all know why) of graffiti words, and usually consisting of artist’s name and only two colors.

Whole Train

The meaning of the term ‘whole train’ is quite self-explanatory in the graffiti world. It is used to describe train cars which have been completely covered in graffiti, from the first to the last car of the train composition.