Active - An initiated member of a fraternity or sorority.

Advisory Board - Members of an alumni chapter that advises the chapter.

Alumni - Members of a fraternity or sorority who have graduated. (Singular is alumnus or alumnae)

Badge - Also known as a pin, it is an item of jewelry given to members upon initiation. New Members often get "pledge pins" until their initiation.

Bid - An invitation to join a fraternity or sorority. They are given out on Bid's Day.

Big - Nickname for big sister or brother, a mentor assigned to a new member.

Brother - Term that active fraternity members call each other.

Chapter - A branch of a national sorority, established at a campus. Each will have their own name, usually designated by Greek Letters. Eg, Delta Gamma Rho, Beta Tau chapter.

Chapter House - A house on campus where members of the organization live.

Chapter Meeting - A weekly meeting held to discuss sorority or fraternity business.

Charter - Permission from the national organization to have a chapter.

Colony - A new organization that is awaiting official recognition from their national to have a chapter at a campus.

Depledge - The process where a new member elects to or is asked to reliquish membership during their pledge period.

Dressed to Pin - Slang term for the attire worn when wearing your sorority pin. Most sororities require pins be worn with conservative business like attire.

Dry Rush - A fraternity rush event with no alcohol.

Dues - Charge of joining a fraternity or sorority. Covers costs, formal events, activities and other events.

Continuous Open Bidding - Also known as COB. If a sorority does not reach the membership ceiling, they may hold an informal recruitment, and offer bids to potential new members until the reach their ceiling.

Greek - Not the nationality. Greek in this sense means a member of a fraternity or sorority.

GLO - Greek Life Organization, or a sorority or fraternity.

Hazing - Any act performed by a member of any GLO that is likely to cause harm, danger, causes public embarassment or shame, compromise's a persons dignity, causes the person to be the object of ridicule, cause psychological harm, or is illegal. Hazing is against the law in all states, and is against the principles of all sororities and fraternities.

House Corporation -  The entity that holds the title to property that a chapter lives or meets in. This is usually an alumni group like an advisory board.

House Director/House Mom - A person hired to live in the chapter house and supervise the chapter members.

IFC - Stands for Interfraternity Council, and is the governing body of the fraternities on a particular campus. Sorority equivilant is Panhellenic Council.

Inactive Member - A member who has elected to become inactive in sorority or fraternity life. They have no say or participation in chapter activities.

Independant - Term for a student that isn't a member of a GLO. Also seen as GDI for "God Damn Independant"

Initiation - A ceremony where a new member becomes an active member of the organization. Iniation ceremonies are private and different for all organizations.

Lavaliere - A necklace with the sorority letters, often worn by active members.

Letters - The first Greek letter of each Greek word that makes up the name of the fraternity or sorority are often displayed on clothing. For example, Chi Omega Beta's letters are CWB.

Little/Lil - Nickname for a Big's new member that they mentor.

Live In - Used to identify members that live inside the chapter house.

Legacy - The son, daughter or brother or sister of an initiated or alumni member. Some organizations also include grandchildren.

Local - A sorority that is local, meaning that it is not a national sorority, and may have just one chapter, or just a few. Locals are not members of NPC, and they may or may not conduct recruitment with the NPC sororities.

Mixer/Exchange - A party between a sorority and fraternity, often involving themes or games.

National - A sorority or fraternity's national headquarters.

NIC - Stands for North American Interfraternity Conference, and is the national governing body of all the 67 men's national fraternities.

NPC - The National Panhellenic Council is the organization that governs the 26 women's national sororities.

NPHC - The National Pan-Hellenic Council, the governing body of the 9 traditionally African American sororities and fraternities.

Panhellenic Council/Panhel - The governing body of the sororities of a particular campus. The fraternity equivilant is IFC.

Philanthropy - A charity or fundraiser that the fraternity or sorority supports. Can be national or local or both.

Pledge/New Member - After receiving and accepting a Bid, the person becomes a Pledge, or, in it's official term, a New Member.

Pledge Period/New Member Program - The time period where the new member learns about their new sorority and fraternity before initiation. Lasts from Bids day until Initiation.

Pref - The final parties held by sororities during Recruitment. They are fancier than the previous parties and usually include a ritual that potential new members can participate in. Also known by the full name of Preference.

Pref Cards - Potential new members sign this after the pref parties, indicating in order, which sororities of the ones whose parties they attended they liked the most. Stands for Preference Cards.

Quota - A set number of new members a sorority can extend bids to. Quota is determined by taking the total number of potential new members at Pref and dividing by the number of sororities.

Recolonize - Process where a fraternity or a sorority that was previously on campus, receives another charter for the same campus. Recolonization can happen because a chapter died out due to low numbers, or had their charter revoked.

Retreat - A trip, or sometimes just a sleep over at the sorority house, where the members bond and get to know each other.

Ritual - A GLO's traditions, including initiation. Rituals are private to each organization.

Rush/Recruitment - The process where sororities and fraternities get new members. Potential new members tour each house, are invited to parties and choose the new members of their organization. The terms are synonymous, Recruitment being the official term.

Rushee/Potential New Member - Formerly known as a rushee. This is the person that wants to be a member of a sorority or fraternity.

Rho Chi/Recruitment Counselor - A PX (The greek letters for rho chi) leads a recruitment group much like a camp counselor. Formal term is recruitment counselor. During recruitment they disaffiliate from their sorority so that they will not bias the potential new members.

Sister - Term that sorority members call each other.

Suicide - When a prospective member only puts down one choice on her preference card. This sometimes lessens the chances of her getting a bid, and isn't recommended. Also know by the official name of Intentional Single Preference.

Total/Ceiling - The maximum number of members a sorority can have. Sororities can only exceed ceiling during formal recruitment, if for example, taking quota would put them at 62 members.

Wet Rush - A fraternity rush event that serves alcohol.