Minecraft Glossary

Away from keyboard. Leaving the game running while you're not playing, usually parked at a farm so it keeps producing.

A small blue flying helper mob with 20 HP. Give it an item and it collects matching items nearby and drops them at a note block you've played.

A large structure deep in the Deep Dark, around Y -51. Its chests hold some of the best Overworld loot, including Swift Sneak books and echo shards, but the warden guards it.

A helmet enchantment that removes the 5x mining slowdown you get when your head is underwater.

A passive mob with 12 HP that rolls into a ball when threatened. Brush it for scutes, which craft wolf armor.

An aquatic mob with 14 HP that fights other underwater mobs alongside you. Breed them with buckets of tropical fish; the rare blue one appears in about 1 in 1,200 births.

A dry biome of terracotta in red, orange and yellow bands, with red sand and cacti. Its mineshafts generate at the surface, and gold ore is more common here.

A sword or axe enchantment that adds 2.5 damage per level (Java) against spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, endermites and bees, and slows them on hit.

A huge piglin fortress in every Nether biome except basalt deltas. Its chests can hold netherite scraps, upgrade templates and the Pigstep disc, but the piglins guard it hard.

The version of Minecraft written in C++ that runs on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, phones and tablets, with cross-play between all of them.

A neutral mob with 10 HP that pollinates crops and fills hives with honey. Put a campfire under the nest before harvesting, or the whole swarm attacks.

A region of the world, like desert, jungle or swamp, that decides the terrain, plants, weather and which mobs spawn.

A hostile Nether fortress mob with 20 HP that shoots fireballs. Its blaze rods are needed for brewing stands, blaze powder and eyes of ender.

A mace enchantment that makes hits ignore 15% of the target's armor per level, up to 60% at Breach IV.

A hostile mob with 30 HP found in trial chambers. It jumps around and fires wind charges, and drops breeze rods, which you need to craft a mace.

A rideable desert mob with 32 HP that carries two players. It's tall enough that most melee mobs can't hit a rider.

A tameable mob with 10 HP, found in villages and swamp huts. Creepers and phantoms avoid cats, which makes them useful at a base.

A small hostile spider with 12 HP that spawns from spawners in mineshafts and, since 26.2, naturally in sulfur caves. Its bite poisons you; drinking milk cures it.

A trident enchantment that calls down lightning on the target during a thunderstorm.

A mountain biome of pink cherry trees with falling petals and pink petal ground cover. Bees and pigs spawn here.

A 16 x 16 column of blocks running the full height of the world. The game generates, loads and saves the world one chunk at a time, and farms only run in loaded chunks.

The block with the 3 x 3 crafting grid you need for most recipes. Four planks make one.

The green hostile mob with 20 HP that walks up and explodes. A raised shield blocks the blast, and cats and ocelots scare them off.

A farm that spawns creepers in a dark area and drops or traps them to collect gunpowder, often using cats to steer them.

A curse that stops you from taking the item out of your armor slot until you die or it breaks. Creative mode ignores it.

A curse that makes the item disappear when you die instead of dropping.

A cave biome far below Y 0, full of sculk. Sculk sensors and shriekers react to noise and can summon the warden.

A mace enchantment that adds bonus damage for every block you fell before landing the smash attack.

A boots enchantment that cuts the slowdown from moving through water. At level III you move about as fast as on land.

A hot sand biome with cacti, dead bushes, desert pyramids, wells and villages. It never rains here.

A neutral ocean mob with 10 HP. Swim near one for the Dolphin's Grace speed boost, and feed it raw fish to have it lead you to treasure.

A tameable mob with 15 to 30 HP that can carry a chest. Before you have shulker boxes, it's the best way to haul gear.

An underwater zombie with 20 HP. Drowned holding a trident are the only way to get tridents in survival.

A tool enchantment that makes mining faster with each level. Efficiency V on a diamond or netherite pickaxe plus Haste II mines stone instantly.

Wings found in the item frames on End ships. Equip them in the chest slot to glide, and use firework rockets to fly. Repair with phantom membranes or Mending.

A tall purpur structure on the outer End islands, guarded by shulkers. Some come with an End ship carrying an elytra and a dragon head.

The portal to the End, found in a room inside a stronghold. Fill all 12 frames with eyes of ender to light it.

The final boss, with 200 HP, found in the End. Destroy the end crystals on the obsidian pillars first, or it keeps healing.

An item dropped by endermen. Throw it to teleport where it lands, or combine it with blaze powder to make an eye of ender.

A tall neutral mob with 40 HP that teleports and attacks if you look at its face. Stand under a ceiling two blocks high and it can't reach you; a carved pumpkin on your head lets you look at them safely.

A tiny hostile mob with 8 HP that sometimes appears when you throw an ender pearl. Endermen attack them, which is why some enderman farms use one as bait.

A hostile illager with 24 HP that summons fangs and vexes. It's the only mob that drops the totem of undying, from raids and woodland mansions.

A boots enchantment that reduces fall damage by 12% per level, 48% at level IV. It also reduces ender pearl damage.

A sword enchantment that sets the target on fire. Animals killed while burning drop cooked meat.

An armor enchantment that reduces fire and lava damage and shortens how long you burn.

A bow enchantment that sets arrows on fire, igniting whatever they hit for 5 seconds.

A common biome of oak and birch trees. The flower forest variant has almost every flower in the game.

A pickaxe enchantment that increases drops from ores and some other blocks. Fortune III gives about 2.2 diamonds per diamond ore on average, up to 4.

A shy mob with 10 HP that lives in taigas and only comes out at night. Foxes pick up and carry items; breed two to get a baby that trusts you.

A mob with 10 HP whose color depends on the biome it grew up in. Frogs eat small magma cubes and drop froglights, a bright light block.

A boots enchantment that freezes water under your feet into ice as you walk. It also stops damage from magma blocks.

The game's internal clock. Java runs 20 ticks per second, and redstone timing is measured in redstone ticks of 0.1 seconds.

A big floating Nether mob with 10 HP that shoots explosive fireballs. Hit a fireball back to kill it. Ghast tears brew potions of regeneration.

A glowing underwater mob with 10 HP found in dark water. Its glow ink sacs make sign text glow and craft glow item frames.

A neutral mountain mob with 10 HP that rams players and mobs. When it rams a solid block like stone or a log, it can drop a goat horn.

Deliberately wrecking other players' builds. Banned on most servers, but allowed on anarchy servers like 2b2t.

A hostile fish with 30 HP that guards ocean monuments and fires a laser. Guardian farms give lots of XP and prismarine.

Survival locked to Hard difficulty with one life. When you die, you can only spectate the world or leave. Both Java and Bedrock have it.

A hostile Nether beast with 40 HP found in crimson forests. It's a good food source, and it backs away from warped fungus, portals and respawn anchors.

A tameable mob with 15 to 30 HP, and with speed and jump strength that vary from horse to horse. Breed the best ones with golden carrots or golden apples to get faster foals.

A desert zombie with 20 HP that doesn't burn in sunlight. Its attack gives you Hunger, so carry extra food.

A trident enchantment that adds damage. On Java it only affects aquatic mobs; on Bedrock it affects any mob that is in water or rain.

A bow enchantment that lets you shoot forever as long as you carry one normal arrow. Tipped and spectral arrows are still used up.

A big neutral mob with 100 HP that protects villages. Villagers summon them when they're scared, which is how iron farms work.

The original version of Minecraft, released in 2009, for Windows, macOS and Linux. It has the big mod scene, snapshots and the large community servers.

A dense biome of tall jungle trees, vines, bamboo, melons and cocoa, with jungle temples hiding trap puzzles.

A sword enchantment that pushes the target further back with each hit.

A tameable mob with 15 to 30 HP that can carry a chest. Lead one llama and others nearby follow in a caravan.

A sword enchantment that adds up to one extra drop per level from mobs and raises the chance of rare drops. At Looting III, wither skeleton skulls drop 5.5% of the time instead of 2.5%.

A trident enchantment that makes a thrown trident fly back to you. Higher levels return faster.

A fishing rod enchantment that raises the chance of catching treasure like enchanted books, saddles and name tags.

A fishing rod enchantment that shortens the wait for a bite by 5 seconds per level.

A green cave biome with moss, glow berries, spore blossoms, dripleaf, clay pools and axolotls. An azalea tree on the surface often marks one below.

A hostile Nether mob that splits when killed, like a slime. The big one has 16 HP. Large and medium magma cubes drop magma cream for fire resistance potions.

An enchantment that uses the experience you pick up to repair the item instead of filling your XP bar. Each XP point repairs 2 durability.

Abandoned tunnels underground with rails, cobwebs and cave spider spawners. Chest minecarts hold rails, food, enchanted books and sometimes name tags or diamonds.

The limit on how many mobs of each kind can spawn naturally at once. In Java single-player the hostile cap is 70. Farms work best when nothing else uses up the cap.

A red or brown cow with 20 HP that lives in mushroom fields. Use a bowl on it for mushroom stew, or shears to turn it into a normal cow.

A crossbow enchantment that fires three arrows in a spread for the cost of one. Only the middle arrow can be picked up.

A rare island biome of mycelium and giant mushrooms. Hostile mobs don't spawn here naturally, though spawners still work.

A dark brick structure in the Nether with blaze spawners, nether wart and wither skeletons. Chests can hold diamonds, saddles and horse armor.

The strongest gear material. Combine diamond gear, a netherite ingot (made from ancient debris scraps and gold) and a netherite upgrade template at a smithing table.

A redstone block that sends a pulse when the block in front of it changes. It's the sensor behind most automatic farms.

A big underwater temple guarded by guardians and three elder guardians. It holds 8 gold blocks in its core and wet sponges.

A player with admin rights on a server or LAN world, who can run commands, change game modes and manage other players.

A mob with 20 HP that lives in bamboo jungles and has personalities like lazy, playful or aggressive. Baby pandas sometimes sneeze out a slimeball.

A tameable jungle bird with 6 HP that sits on your shoulder and mimics nearby hostile mobs. Tame it with seeds; never feed it a cookie, which kills it.

A flying hostile mob with 20 HP that spawns at night if you haven't slept for three or more days. Its membranes repair elytra and brew slow falling.

A crossbow enchantment that lets arrows pass through several mobs in a line. The arrows can still be picked up.

A Nether mob with 16 HP that attacks unless you wear at least one piece of gold armor. Throw it gold ingots to barter for items.

A hostile illager with 24 HP that uses a crossbow. Killing a patrol captain drops an ominous bottle; drinking it gives Bad Omen, which starts a raid when you enter a village.

A flat grassy biome with scattered oak trees, horses and lots of villages. The sunflower plains variant is covered in sunflowers.

A bow enchantment that increases arrow damage by 25% per level plus 25%, so Power V adds 150%.

An armor enchantment that reduces almost all damage by 4% per level per piece, capped at 80%. Full Protection IV is the best general defense.

A bow enchantment that knocks targets further back.

A crossbow enchantment that cuts reload time by 0.25 seconds per level.

A small passive mob with 3 HP. Rabbit's foot brews potions of leaping, and four rabbit hides make leather.

A huge hostile beast with 100 HP that comes with raids. It always drops a saddle when killed.

Mojang's subscription service for private servers that stay online, run by Mojang, with no setup. Only invited players can join.

A Nether block, charged with glowstone, that sets your spawn point in the Nether. Used in the Overworld or End, it explodes.

A helmet enchantment that lets you hold your breath longer underwater, about 15 extra seconds per level.

A trident enchantment that launches you forward when you throw it in water or rain. You can't use it with Loyalty or Channeling.

A dry grassland of acacia trees, horses, llamas and villages. The windswept savanna variant has jagged, steep hills. It never rains here.

The number a world is generated from. The same seed on the same edition and version gives the same terrain.

A sword and axe enchantment that adds damage to every hit. On Java it adds 0.5 x level + 0.5 damage (3 extra at Sharpness V); Bedrock adds 1.25 per level.

A hostile End city mob with 30 HP that hides in a shell and fires bullets that make you float. Shulker shells craft shulker boxes.

A tool enchantment that makes blocks drop themselves instead of their usual drop, so you can collect glass, ore blocks, grass blocks and bee nests with the bees inside.

A tiny hostile mob with 8 HP that hides in infested stone and calls others when hit. Infested blocks break faster than the real thing, which gives them away.

A hostile mob with 20 HP that shoots arrows and burns in daylight. If a skeleton's arrow kills a creeper, the creeper drops a music disc.

A bouncy hostile mob that splits when killed; the big one has 16 HP. It spawns in swamps and in slime chunks underground, and drops slimeballs.

A sword or axe enchantment that adds 2.5 damage per level (Java) against undead mobs like zombies, skeletons, phantoms, drowned and the wither.

Survival multiplayer: a shared survival world on a server, often with a small, invite-only group of players.

A large ancient mob with 14 HP that sniffs out seeds for two rare plants, torchflower and pitcher plant. Its eggs come from suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins and hatch about twice as fast on moss.

Chunks around the world spawn point that used to stay loaded in Java Edition even when nobody was there. Java 1.21.9 removed them; use /forceload to keep chunks loaded now.

Trying to beat the game, usually by killing the ender dragon, as fast as possible. Runs are split into categories such as random seed and set seed.

A mob with 16 HP that can climb walls. It's hostile in the dark but neutral in daylight. Drops string and spider eyes.

A passive sea mob with 10 HP that drops ink sacs, a source of black dye.

A skeleton variant with 20 HP that spawns in snowy biomes and shoots arrows of slowness.

An underground structure that holds the End portal, plus libraries and storerooms. Find one by throwing eyes of ender and following them.

A wet, murky biome with lily pads, vines, slimes and witch huts. Mangrove swamp is a separate biome with mud and mangrove trees.

A Java-only sword enchantment that makes sweep attacks deal more damage: 50%, 67% or 75% of the main hit at levels I to III.

A cool spruce forest with ferns, sweet berry bushes, wolves, foxes and spruce villages. Snowy taiga adds snow.

An armor enchantment that sometimes damages anyone who hits you. It costs extra durability when it triggers.

Usually means the random tick speed game rule (random_tick_speed on Java 1.21.11+, randomTickSpeed before and on Bedrock), which controls how fast crops grow, leaves decay and fire spreads. The default is 3 on Java and 1 on Bedrock.

A build where villagers each stand at their own workstation so you can trade with them quickly. It's the main late-game source of enchanted books and gear.

An underground structure of copper and tuff, between about Y -40 and Y -20, full of trial spawners and breezes. Its vaults give heavy cores, enchanted books and other loot.

A beach mob with 30 HP that lays eggs on its home beach. Baby turtles drop scutes as they grow, which craft the turtle shell helmet.

An enchantment that gives each use a chance not to cost durability, so tools last roughly 2x, 3x or 4x as long at levels I to III. Armor benefits less.

A passive mob with 20 HP that lives in villages and trades with you for emeralds. Its job comes from the workstation it claims.

A hostile illager with 24 HP that charges at you with an iron axe. It appears in woodland mansions, patrols and raids.

A blind hostile mob with 500 HP in the Deep Dark. It hunts by sound, so the best move is to sneak, avoid sculk shriekers and leave. It's not meant to be fought.

A mace enchantment that launches you back into the air after a smash attack, so you can chain hits.

A hostile mob with 26 HP that throws harmful potions and drinks healing ones. Witches drop redstone, glowstone, sugar and other brewing ingredients.

A boss you build from soul sand and three wither skeleton skulls. It has 300 HP on Java and 600 on Bedrock, and drops a nether star, used to craft a beacon.

A tall black skeleton with 20 HP found in Nether fortresses. Its hits give the Wither effect, and it sometimes drops a skull; you need three to summon the wither.

A tameable mob with 8 HP wild and 40 HP once tamed. Tame it with bones and heal it with meat; its tail drops lower as its health goes down.

A huge mansion in dark forests, full of vindicators and evokers. It's the main place to get totems of undying outside raids, plus hidden rooms with loot.

A build that produces experience for enchanting and Mending, often around a mob spawner or a mob farm.

A hostile mob with 40 HP: a hoglin that turned into a zombie after being brought into the Overworld. It attacks almost anything.

The most common hostile mob, with 20 HP. It burns in daylight. Zombie villagers can be cured with a splash potion of weakness and a golden apple for big trade discounts.

A neutral Nether mob with 20 HP. Hit one and every one nearby comes after you. They drop gold nuggets, which makes them the basis of gold farms.