'Gank' has two main slang senses. In video games (especially MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota), to 'gank' means to ambush an opponent with a surprise attack from another lane — standard gamer vocabulary, harmless. In older street slang and 1990s hip-hop, 'gank' also meant to steal or cheat someone. If your teenage gamer says they were 'ganked', they almost certainly mean the in-game ambush. Context usually makes it obvious — gaming chat vs. real-life chat. No need for concern in the gaming sense; ask a gentle question if it appears outside a gaming context.
gank
To ambush an enemy player — usually in a lane, usually as a jungler coming out of fog.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1980 · 1 year of recorded useSeen in the wild
I think he's just normal snep colors but with big squareish/rectangle ish spots. I want him to have hair but I haven't decided what yet. I'm looking through photos of metal bands I like and I'll probably just gank som…
it makes so much more sense as a t2 honestly I've been considering running it on the drifter to gank super fast style lmfao
Keibane Airport (IATA: NRM, ICAO: GANK) (French: Aéroport Keibane) is an airport serving Nara in Mali.
Definitions
To ambush an enemy player — usually in a lane, usually as a jungler coming out of fog. A well-timed gank is the backbone of a MOBA early game.
"Three ganks bottom before 10 minutes. We're fed."
'Gank' has two main slang senses. In video games (especially MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota), to 'gank' means to ambush an opponent with a surprise attack from another lane — standard gamer vocabulary, harmless. In older street slang and 1990s hip-hop, 'gank' also meant to steal or cheat someone. If your teenage gamer says they were 'ganked', they almost certainly mean the in-game ambush. Context usually makes it obvious — gaming chat vs. real-life chat. No need for concern in the gaming sense; ask a gentle question if it appears outside a gaming context.
'Gank' has two distinct slang meanings. (1) In video games (MOBAs, MMOs), it is a verb meaning to ambush a single opponent with multiple attackers, usually from another lane — standard gamer vocabulary. (2) In 1990s American street slang, 'to gank' meant to steal or cheat. Register: very informal in both senses; the gaming sense is now far more common among under-30s. In formal English say 'ambush' (gaming) or 'steal' (street). A common learner mistake is to confuse the senses; in gaming chat, default to the ambush meaning.
“I think he's just normal snep colors but with big squareish/rectangle ish spots. I want him to have hair but I haven't decided what yet. I'm looking through photos of metal bands I like and I'll probably just gank something from one of them.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“it makes so much more sense as a t2 honestly I've been considering running it on the drifter to gank super fast style lmfao”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Keibane Airport (IATA: NRM, ICAO: GANK) (French: Aéroport Keibane) is an airport serving Nara in Mali.”
Comments
In MOBA games: a surprise attack, often by multiple players against a lone enemy. "Gank top lane" = surprise the top-lane player.
"Watch out, jungle is going for a gank."
Comments
For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🎮About Gaming slang
Gaming slang across genres — from OP, nerf, and buff to carry, clutch, jungle, and wombo combo. The lingo of esports, streamers, and ranked lobbies everywhere.
See all Gaming slang on Slangora.
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Related terms
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Semantically related
- ganker80%
In online gaming, a ganker is a player who ambushes or overwhelms others — usually weaker or solo players — with an unfair numbers or power advantage. Classic ganking involves high-level players hunting lowbies in open-world PvP games, or a team piling onto a single opponent who never stood a chance. It's widely considered unsporting and frustrating, though some players treat ganking as an art form. The term comes from "gang kill" and is especially common in MMORPGs and battle royale games.
- gank god79%
A gank god is a player — usually a jungler — whose ambushes are so perfectly timed, so surgically executed, and so psychologically devastating that the enemy team starts making questionable life choices just to avoid them. The gank god doesn't just kill you; they kill you in a way that makes you question your decision to load up the game at all. Associated with legendary junglers who seem to teleport across the map and arrive exactly when you've just used your escape ability.
- gank mode79%
Gank mode is the mental and strategic state a jungler enters when they decide that farming camps is for cowards and the real fun is in terrorizing every lane on the map. In gank mode, the minimap becomes a hunt, every enemy out of position becomes a target, and the jungle player pings their movement so frequently the team starts to feel like they're being coached by a very enthusiastic predator. Gank mode can be called on demand or activated involuntarily after an enemy taunts in chat.
- mega gank78%
A mega gank is a gank so well coordinated, so devastating, and so loaded with participants that it stops being a simple ambush and becomes a full-scale military operation on a single unfortunate lane. Think: jungler plus roaming mid plus teleporting top descending on one person simultaneously while the enemy support watches in helpless horror. Mega ganks are often preceded by a suspicious silence on the minimap and followed by a long, respectful pause from the receiving team.