Marijuana Street Names: From Slang to Subculture

Weed, pot, ganja, loud, zaza: cannabis has a very large number of nicknames. Some are centuries old, some were invented last year on social media. This guide sorts the most common ones by where they come from and what they usually mean, so you know what someone is talking about, whether it is a customer question, a song lyric or a menu.

Why so many names for one plant?

Cannabis has been banned in most places for decades, and people needed words that did not draw attention. Other terms were borrowed from the languages of the communities that used the plant long before the bans, or came from music, film and the internet. Even where cannabis is now legal, the slang has stayed because it is part of how people talk about it.

One caution before the lists: slang changes fast and differs by region and generation. A word can mean different things in different places, and many of the meanings below are what people in the scene generally use, not an official definition.

Classic names that are still used

• Weed: the most widely understood English word today.
• Pot: older, especially in North America, and still understood almost everywhere.
• Grass: a term that people link to the 1960s counterculture.
• Herb: common in reggae and Rastafari circles.
• Mary Jane: a play on "marijuana", often found in music.
• Ganja: a word that came into English from Hindi and is strongly tied to Jamaica and Rastafari culture.
• Reefer: an old term, often connected with the anti-cannabis propaganda of the 1930s, now mostly used with a wink.

Regional words

• Mota: common in Mexico and much of Latin America.
• Dagga: used in South Africa. Etymonline traces it through Afrikaans to a Khoisan word for a plant that was used as a narcotic.
• Zol: South African slang for a joint.
• María: a Spanish nickname used for playful or discreet talk.
• Dope: used in both the US and the UK. Note that the word is also used for other drugs, so context matters.
• Skunk: in the UK, often means strong, pungent cannabis, and news media often use it with negative connotations.

Words that describe quality or effect

These words say something about the weed itself. Opinions about what counts differ, so treat them as rough guides.

• Loud: very aromatic cannabis. If you can smell it from across the room, it is loud.
• Gas: similar to loud, often for strains with a fuel or diesel smell.
• Fire: excellent cannabis.
• Chronic: popularized by Dr. Dre's 1992 album of that name, usually meaning potent, top-shelf weed.
• Mids: average quality. Not bad, but nothing to brag about.
• Reggie: low-quality, dry weed.

Names that started as strain names

Strain names often turn into general slang. "Widow" stands for White Widow, "purp" for purple strains such as Granddaddy Purple, "sour" for Sour Diesel, "cookies" for Girl Scout Cookies and its crosses, "haze" for anything in the Haze family, and "kush" for the earthy, body-heavy family around OG Kush and Bubba Kush. The names only suggest an experience: the actual effect depends on the specific plant, the dose and the person. If you want to see what a particular name stands for, browse our feminized seed range or read the White Widow page.

Pop culture and the internet

Music has always spread cannabis slang. Bob Marley's songs helped carry "herb" and "ganja" worldwide, and hip-hop made words like "chronic", "loud" and "gas" familiar well beyond the cannabis scene. Films such as Cheech & Chong and Pineapple Express did the same for the stoner comedy genre. More recently, "zaza", used for premium weed, spread mostly through social media. Slang like this can be gone in a year, so do not assume that your older cousin and your younger neighbor use the same words.

Weights have slang too

Cannabis amounts also come with nicknames, such as "dime bag" or "quarter". These differ between countries, so our guide to cannabis weights and slang terms lists them in more detail.

Does it matter which word you use?

In practice, yes, in two places. When you buy seeds, the names that count are the strain names on the product page, not street words. And when talking about a legal product in a shop, a clear word such as "cannabis" or "flower" avoids confusion. Slang is great for conversation, but it is a poor way to specify what you want.