Prison Slang and Terminology Quiz

Prison Slang and Terminology

• afera: Refers to wrongful accusation regarding prison conduct and can also mean a crime.
• afera bęckowa: Represents beating or assault.
• afera koperkowa: Indicates a quarrel over trivial matters.
• afera majtkowa: Means rape.
• agregat: Used to describe a water heating element or a cunning person.
• aksamitna biżuteria: Slang for poultry.
• alejka: Passage between beds in a prison cell.
• ameryka/amerykan/amerykanka: Refers to a candidate undergoing a probationary period for a prison group.
• anioł: Member of the "Angels" group, a different subculture than the grypsers.
• aparat: Slang for a cunning or deceitful person.
• apropak: A prisoner who poses as an intellectual.
• arbajt/arbajtować: Denotes work or to work respectively.
• audiencja: A derogatory term for a specific type of oral homosexual act.
• autobus: Slang for a large pack of tea.
• aza: Refers to a caged vehicle designed for prisoner transport.
• cegielnia: Slang for rectum or buttocks.
• celka: A prison cell.
• centralniak: Refers to the Regional Remand Prison in Warsaw.

Prison Life Hierarchy and Culture

• cesarka/cesarski chlast: Self-inflicted harm, specifically cutting the abdomen.
• chachać się: To mock or ridicule.
• chajc: Money.
• chałupa: Represents a 25-year prison sentence.
• chałupki: Sentence for repeat offenders, often in a social adjustment center.
• cham: Can refer to a derogatory prisoner or a member of a particular subculture.
• chapać dzidę: Oral sex.
• charakterniacy: Leaders and activists of the grypsers group.
• charakterny: Describes someone unyielding or reliable.
• chart: Slang for a police officer.
• chata/chata za wsią: Refers to prison.
• chawir: Accomplice.
• chawiracz: A thief who commits residential burglary.
• chlać: To inform authorities about another prisoner.
• chlejus: Informant.
• chłopiec: A derogatory term for a man, implying weakness.
• chodak: Walking area within the prison.
• chodzenie: Refers to theft within the prison.
• chodzić na celki: To repeatedly steal from cells.

Sexuality and Relationships in Prison

• chomąt: Derogatory term for a prisoner convicted of hooliganism.
• chorągiewa: A non-participating prisoner pretending to be a grypsers.
• chrzest: Welcome ritual for new prisoners, involving a beating.
• chuj: An insult referring to a despised person.
• chwiej: A prisoner outside the grypsers group.
• chwycić cug: To fall into a cycle of alcoholism.
• ciągnąć druta: To be a target of homosexual oral sex.
• ciemna: An isolation cell.
• ciota/ciotka: Refers to the lowest rank in the prison hierarchy, or a type of salt pork used for masturbation.
• cuwaks: First-time inmate or newcomer.
• cwel: A man raped orally or anally, stigmatized in the prison hierarchy.
• cyc: Newcomer to the grypsers group.
• cyrk: Slang for prison.
• czapa/czajew: Refers to the death penalty or head.
• czysta robota: Theft committed without leaving evidence.

Legal and Punishment Terms

• człowiek: A grypsers.
• ćma: Prostitute.
• ćwiara/ćwiartka: Represents a 25-year prison sentence.
• ćwierkać: To speak in prison slang.
• dać kogoś do sprawy: To involve someone in a case by giving their information to the police.
• dać pajdę: To refer to judges announcing a 10-year sentence.
• dać w kichę: To engage in sexual intercourse.
• dać z glana/zrywkę: To escape.
• daj: A derogatory term suggesting sexual propositioning.
• damski: Could mean invalid or false.
• damski bokser: A prisoner convicted of beating a woman, looked down upon by other inmates.
• damskie głosy śmigają w niebiosy: Insults from women lack power to offend a person.
• dawać wycisk: To harass or persecute.
• dechy: Can refer to an isolation cell or prison.
• dekiel: Slang for head.
• deptak: Walking area for prisoners.
• derby: Group masturbation.
• dmuchać: To engage in sex.
• dmuchanka: Communication method among grypsers using a paper cone to send messages.

Additional Terms

• do spodu garować: To serve the full sentence without parole.
• doklepać kogoś: To cause someone's inclusion in the list of suspects.
• dolewka: Additional sentence imposed by the court.
• dołan: Bowl used for soup.
• dołek/dołki: Refers to a police holding tank or the lowest prison hierarchy.
• dołować: To engage in sexual intercourse.
• dookoła Macieju/dookoła Wojtek: Indicates life imprisonment.
• dostać cugu: To fall into a cycle of alcoholism.
• dostać czapę: To receive a death sentence.
• dostać kopa: To be demoted in hierarchy.
• dorobić się: To receive a sentence for crimes committed while incarcerated.
• dostać klapsa: To be severely beaten.
• dowódca: Refers to a unit leader or a persecuted prisoner.
• drętwa gadka: Engaging in interrogations.
• drynić: To drink alcohol.
• drzeć łacha: To mock or ridicule someone.
• dzbanek: Sanitary bucket used in prisons.