Leet (or 1337, l33t, l33+, etc, derived from the word “Elite”) is a linguistic phenomenon associated with the underground culture centered on telecommunications, manifested primarily on the Internet, and is especially prevalent in gaming (as in video games) communities. For the purposes of this text, leet is defined as the corruption or modification of written text. For example, the term “leet” itself is often written “l33t” or “1337”. Such corruptions are frequently referred to as “Leetspeak” or “13375p34k,” etc. (see below for cipher definitions). In addition to corruption of standard language, new colloquialisms have been added to the parlance. It is also important to note that Leet itself is not solely based upon one language or character set. In fact, Greek, Russian, Chinese, and other languages have been subjected to the Leet “cipher”. As such, while it may be referred to as a “cipher”, a “dialect”, or a “language”, Leet does not fit squarely into any of these categories. This article primarily concerns the English Language variant of Leet.

The name Leet itself is derived from the word elite (also 31337). Elite has been used in the past to designate a group of users as belonging to a higher social echelon than other users. Originally, “elite” had been reduced to one syllable, “'leet”.

Because of this derivation from the word “elite”, calling someone or something “leet” may be considered a compliment, although it is also used in an ironic derogatory manner[1].