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<p class="crumb"><a href="/guides">Guides</a> / Glossary</p>
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<div class="card-body">
<h1><span class="grad">Glossary</span></h1>
<p class="lede">Plain-English definitions for the terms that show up across the guides. New to a word? Look it up here, then follow the link to learn more.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h2 class="card-header">Testnet terms, A to Z</h2>
<div class="card-body">
<div class="table-wrap"><table>
<thead><tr><th scope="col">Term</th><th scope="col">What it means</th></tr></thead>
<tbody>
<tr><th scope="row">Address</th><td>Where coins are sent. Testnet addresses use different prefixes from mainnet, so you cannot mix them up. See the <a href="/bitcoin">coin guides</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Address poisoning</th><td>A scam where someone sends a tiny amount from a look-alike address so it lands in your history, hoping you reuse it by mistake. Verify the full address. See <a href="/scams">staying safe</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Atomic swap</th><td>A trade of one coin for another across two chains, with no custodian. It either completes fully or refunds both sides. See <a href="/swaps">how swaps work</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Backup</th><td>A copy of your seed phrase kept offline, so you can restore a wallet if a device is lost. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys, seeds, and backups</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Block</th><td>A batch of transactions added to the chain. Its depth in the chain is what gives you <a href="/confirmations">confirmations</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Block explorer</th><td>A search engine for a blockchain. Paste an address, transaction, or block to see what the network recorded. See <a href="/explorer">reading the chain</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Broadcast</th><td>Sending a signed transaction out to the network so miners can include it. See <a href="/broadcast-raw-tx">broadcasting a raw transaction</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Coinbase maturity</th><td>The rule that a freshly mined block reward cannot be spent until 100 more blocks are mined on top of it. See <a href="/regtest">Bitcoin regtest</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Confirmation</th><td>A block mined on top of your transaction. More confirmations mean it is harder to reverse. See <a href="/confirmations">how confirmations work</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">CPFP</th><td>Child Pays For Parent. Spending a stuck transaction's output with a new high-fee child so miners take both. See <a href="/debug-stuck-tx">stuck transactions</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Derivation path</th><td>The map (like <code>m/84'/1'/0'</code>) that tells an HD wallet which key to derive from the seed. The <code>1'</code> slot means testnet. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Dust</th><td>A UTXO so small that spending it would cost more in <a href="/fees">fees</a> than it is worth.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Faucet</th><td>A service that gives away free testnet coins so you have something to experiment with. See <a href="/faucet">getting coins</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Fee rate</th><td>The fee per unit of transaction size (sat/vB on Bitcoin and Litecoin). Miners pick the highest rates first. See <a href="/fees">how fees work</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">HD wallet</th><td>Hierarchical deterministic wallet. One seed phrase generates an endless tree of keys and addresses. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">HTLC</th><td>Hash Time-Locked Contract. The mechanism behind Bitcoin and Litecoin <a href="/swaps">atomic swaps</a>: coins locked behind a secret, with a refund deadline.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Mainnet</th><td>The real network, where coins have actual value. Testnets are separate practice copies. See <a href="/testnets">what a testnet is</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Mempool</th><td>The waiting area of broadcast but unconfirmed transactions. Miners choose from it by <a href="/fees">fee rate</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Mining</th><td>Creating new blocks (and coins) by solving a proof-of-work puzzle. See <a href="/mining">mining testnet coins</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">MWEB</th><td>MimbleWimble Extension Blocks. Litecoin's optional confidential transactions, where amounts are hidden. See the <a href="/litecoin">Litecoin guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Node</th><td>Software that validates the chain and can broadcast transactions. See <a href="/run-node">running a node</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">OP_RETURN</th><td>A transaction output that carries up to about 80 bytes of arbitrary data and is provably unspendable, used to write a short message or proof onto the chain. See <a href="/broadcast-raw-tx">broadcasting a raw transaction</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Peg-in / peg-out</th><td>Moving Litecoin into the MWEB extension block (peg-in) or back out to the transparent chain (peg-out). See the <a href="/litecoin">Litecoin guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Phishing</th><td>Tricking you into revealing a seed phrase or key, often through a fake wallet or faucet site. A real service never needs your seed. See <a href="/scams">staying safe</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Private key</th><td>The secret number that controls coins. Whoever knows it can spend, so never share it or reuse a real one on testnet. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Proof of work</th><td>The puzzle miners race to solve to add a block. It secures the network and issues new coins. See <a href="/mining">mining</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Public key</th><td>Derived from the private key, one way only. Your address comes from it, and it is safe to share. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">RBF</th><td>Replace-By-Fee. Rebroadcasting a stuck transaction as a higher-fee replacement. See <a href="/debug-stuck-tx">stuck transactions</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Regtest</th><td>A private local chain where you mine blocks on demand and confirmations are instant, ideal for automated tests. See <a href="/regtest">Bitcoin regtest</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Reorg</th><td>A short reorganization of recent blocks. It is why shallow confirmations are less safe. See <a href="/confirmations">confirmations</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Ring signature</th><td>Monero's way of hiding the sender by mixing the real input with decoys. See the <a href="/monero">Monero guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">RPC</th><td>Remote Procedure Call. The interface for driving a node with commands. Keep it private. See <a href="/rpc-safety">RPC safety</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Seed phrase</th><td>A list of words (a BIP39 mnemonic, usually 12 or 24) that backs up an entire wallet. Anyone with it controls the coins. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">SegWit</th><td>Segregated Witness, the common modern address format. Native SegWit addresses start with <code>bc1q</code> (or <code>tb1q</code> on testnet) and cost less in fees. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Signet</th><td>A Bitcoin testnet whose blocks are signed by a coordinator, so it is calm and predictable. See the <a href="/bitcoin">Bitcoin guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Stagenet</th><td>Monero's network that mimics mainnet closely, best for integration testing. See the <a href="/monero">Monero guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Stealth address</th><td>Monero's one-time address for each payment, so the recipient is not linkable on-chain. See the <a href="/monero">Monero guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Taproot</th><td>The newest Bitcoin address type, starting with <code>bc1p</code> (or <code>tb1p</code> on testnet), giving better privacy and richer spending conditions. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">Testnet</th><td>A practice network with worthless coins but real protocols. See <a href="/testnets">what a testnet is</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">UTXO</th><td>Unspent Transaction Output. The distinct "coins" a Bitcoin or Litecoin balance is made of. See <a href="/utxos">understanding UTXOs</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">View key</th><td>A Monero key you can share to let someone see incoming funds without being able to spend them. See the <a href="/monero">Monero guide</a>.</td></tr>
<tr><th scope="row">WIF</th><td>Wallet Import Format, a compact text encoding of a single private key. Testnet WIFs differ from mainnet ones. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="card"><div class="card-body">
<p class="muted">Still stuck on a term? The <a href="/guides">guides</a> explain each of these in context, and the <a href="/faq">FAQ</a> covers the most common beginner questions.</p>
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