This guide covers the essential rope terminology: the parts of a rope, the shapes it makes, the families of knots, and what rope is made of — all in plain language, the way we use them in our knot-tying guides.
The chart is interactive — click any label to jump straight to its definition.
Jump to: The 13 chart terms · More rope terms · Families of knots · Terms in instructions · What ABOK means · How rope is built · Rope materials · Strength terms · FAQ
The 13 Terms on the Chart
Working End
The end you're actually tying with — it does the moving. Anglers call it the tag end.
Standing End
The other side: it goes to the load or the anchor and stays put while you tie. The length between the knot and that end is the standing part; the extreme end is the standing end.
Bight
A U-shaped fold of rope. The two sides run alongside each other but don't cross. "Tied in the bight" means tied mid-rope, without using either end.
Overhand Loop
Cross the two sides of a bight and you have a loop. When the working end crosses over the standing part — the upper loop on the chart — it's an overhand loop. The place where the rope crosses is the crossing point. Plenty of knots — the bowline included — start from exactly this shape, so it pays to know which one a guide is asking for.
Underhand Loop
The mirror image: the working end passes under the standing part — the lower loop on the chart. Start a knot with the wrong loop and you can end up with a different knot entirely.
Elbow
Add a second crossing to a loop and you've made an elbow: two crossings close together.
Turn
The rope passes once around an object — a rail, a post, a tree — and changes direction.
Round Turn
Keep going: a full wrap and a bit more, so the rope passes the object twice and both parts exit side by side. That extra wrap is what soaks up load in knots like the round turn and two half hitches — each added wrap grips dramatically harder, which is why one more turn tames a pulling boat or a heavy tarp line.
Bear Essentials' rope-geometry ladder: fold it and it's a bight, cross it and it's a loop, wrap it and it's a turn — every knot is built from those three moves.
Bend
A knot that joins two ropes, like the sheet bend shown on the chart. From the old naval verb "to bend" — sailors bent a line onto a sail.
Whipping
A tight binding of thin cord around a rope's end so it can't unravel — here's how to tie the common whipping.
Fibre
The smallest unit of a rope: the individual hairs of natural or synthetic material everything else is built from.
Yarn
Fibres twisted together. Several yarns twist into a strand.
Strand
Yarns twisted together. Classic laid rope is three strands twisted against each other — which is why a frayed end unravels in stages: strand, yarn, fibre.
More Rope Terms You'll Hear
Tail
The short length of working end left sticking out after the knot is tied. Leave enough: a stingy tail is how knots creep loose. A good rule — enough tail to tie an overhand knot in it.
Bitter End
Sailors' name for the very last end of a line. It isn't about bitterness: it comes from the bitts, the stout deck posts a ship's anchor cable was made fast to — the bitter end was the inboard end at the bitts.
Eye and Noose
The eye is the fixed loop a knot presents for clipping, hooking, or dropping over a post. If the loop slides and tightens instead, it's a noose.
Families of Knots
Knot
In the strict sense, one that holds its shape in the rope itself: stopper knots, loop knots like the bowline. Bends and hitches get their own names — below.
Hitch
Ties a rope to something else: a post, a ring, another rope under load. The clove hitch is the classic example. The test: a hitch needs its object — slide it off the post and it falls apart. Bends join ropes to ropes, hitches join ropes to things.
Stopper Knot
Tied at a rope's end to stop it fraying or slipping through a hole — the Ashley stopper knot is our favourite.
Binding Knot
Wraps around an object (or bundle) and holds it squeezed — think of the constrictor knot.
Lashing
Rope binding two or more poles together — see square lashing. The tightening wraps that run across a lashing at right angles are frapping turns.
Seizing
Whipping's cousin: thin cord binding two ropes (or two parts of one) tightly side by side.
Splice
Joining rope by weaving its strands rather than knotting it — permanent, and it weakens the rope less than any knot.
Slipped
Any knot finished with a bight instead of the end, so one tug unties it. Your shoelace bow is a slipped square knot.
Terms You'll Meet in Knot Instructions
Dress and Set
Dress — arrange the knot's wraps so they lie neat and parallel. Set — snug it down tight before it takes load. A dressed-and-set knot is a trustworthy knot; a sloppy one can behave like a different knot entirely.
Capsize and Spill
Capsize — when a knot rolls into a different shape under load. Sometimes deliberate (it's how you untie some knots), usually a failure. A knot that comes fully untied has spilled.
Jam
When a knot pulls so tight it's a fight to untie. Some knots jam by nature; "jam-resistant" is high praise.
Coil and Flake
Ways of stowing rope: coiling winds it in loops; flaking (some say faking) lays it out in figure-eights or zig-zags so it runs free without kinks.
TIB ("Tiable in the Bight")
Modern shorthand for a knot you can tie mid-rope without either end. There's a whole modern precision vocabulary beyond this — ring loading, chirality, PET — that we lean on behind the scenes in our guides.
What Does ABOK Mean?
All over the knot world — our guides included — you'll see references like "ABOK #1010." ABOK is The Ashley Book of Knots: Clifford W. Ashley's 1944 encyclopedia, with roughly 3,850 numbered entries, still the reference work for the craft (more on the book, or browse it on Archive.org).
Why numbers? Because knot names collide — the same knot carries many names, and the same name gets used for different knots. Quoting Ashley's number pins down exactly which knot you mean, so the numbering became the knot community's shared ID system, the way scientists use Latin names. Organisations like the International Guild of Knot Tyers keep that tradition alive today.
How Rope Is Built
Fibre, yarn, and strand (defined above) come together three main ways:
Laid (Twisted) Rope
The classic: three strands twisted against each other, each stage twisted the opposite way so the rope holds itself together. The direction of twist is the lay.
Braided Rope and Double Braid
Strands woven instead of twisted; runs smoother, doesn't try to spin under load. A braided cover over a braided core is double braid.
Kernmantle
The construction of every modern climbing rope and of paracord: a load-bearing core (the kern) inside a woven protective sheath (the mantle). Strip the sheath off 750 lb bushcraft paracord and you'll find the inner yarns — that's kernmantle in your hand, and one reason paracord is the perfect practice rope.
Rope Materials — and What Each Is Best For
Nylon
Strong and stretchy, and it recovers after stretching, which makes it the shock absorber: anchor and mooring lines, tow lines, dynamic climbing ropes. It sinks, and loses some strength when wet.
Polyester
Nearly as strong as nylon, just as strong wet as dry, and much lower stretch. The all-round outdoor choice where you don't want give: guylines, rigging, halyards.
Polypropylene
Light, cheap, and it floats — which is why rescue and heaving lines use it. The trade-off: it's the weakest of the majors, and sun and friction heat degrade it.
Natural Fibres
Manila, hemp, sisal, cotton — the traditional ropes. Weaker than synthetics, they swell when wet and their knots jam, so today they're mostly for decorative work and that classic look.
Dyneema / HMPE
The modern miracle fibre: stronger than steel for its weight, but so slippery that ordinary knots slide apart in it — which is why Dyneema work uses splices and special forms like the soft shackle and the EStar stopper knot.
Strength Terms, Honestly
Breaking Strength
The load at which a new rope breaks in laboratory conditions. Real ropes are worn, wet, knotted and shock-loaded, so treat it as a ceiling, never a promise.
Knot Efficiency
Every knot weakens rope; the percentage of strength that survives is the knot's efficiency. Splices preserve the most.
Working Load Limit and Shock Load
The working load limit is the load you should actually plan around: a small fraction of breaking strength — Geoffrey Budworth's reference works put it at one-fifth to one-tenth for cordage in good condition. A shock load — a sudden jerk — multiplies the force on a rope far beyond the same weight applied slowly.
The fastest way to make all of this stick isn't reading — it's watching. Every animation in the Knot IQ app shows the working end doing the work in slow, step-through 3D, so bight, turn, and standing part become second nature. And for the full traditional vocabulary, Wikipedia keeps an exhaustive list of knot terminology.
FAQ
What is the difference between a bight and a loop?
A bight is just a U-shaped fold — the rope doesn't cross itself. The moment the sides cross, it becomes a loop.
What is the difference between a bend and a hitch?
A bend joins two ropes together; a hitch ties a rope to an object. If you remove the object, a hitch usually falls apart — a bend doesn't.
What is the working end of a rope?
The end you're actively tying with. The opposite side — the one that goes to the load and stays put — is the standing part, finishing at the standing end.
What does "tied in the bight" mean?
The knot can be tied in the middle of the rope using a fold, without needing access to either end.
What does ABOK stand for?
The Ashley Book of Knots, Clifford W. Ashley's 1944 reference with about 3,850 numbered entries. Knot guides cite its numbers (like ABOK #1010 for the bowline) so everyone knows exactly which knot is meant.
What is the strongest rope material?
For its weight, Dyneema (HMPE) — stronger than steel — but it's so slippery that ordinary knots slip in it. Among everyday ropes, nylon is the strongest, with polyester close behind and better in wet conditions.
