Thieves cant is essentially a secret code shared between thieves. In Dungeons & Dragons, this is a way for rogues to roleplay with NPCs of the criminal underbelly of their world. Here, I’ve outlined or given examples of thieves cant to help you create your own ideas for your campaigns or characters. In the final section I’ve written up some new thieves cant for D&D-specific terms.
Thieves Cant is a conglomeration of many languages but mostly a mixing of Romany and English. I couldn’t tell you the origins of each of these slang terms because I simply don’t know them. Many dictionaries for thieves cant have been printed and reprinted since the 1500s as normal folks struggled to keep up with the ever-evolving language. I’ve compiled a list of real-world thieves cant terms that might appear in your D&D campaign. All words here are taken from The Lexicon of Thieves Cant by Shaun Haley, which is the most exhaustive I could find online.
Alarm (to sound the alarm): cry beef
Bribe: dawb, grease, hush money
Brothel: academy, snoozing ken
Building/House: ken, panny
Crowbar: bess, betty, ginny, jimmy
Gullible Person: cull, gull, gudgeon, pigeon
Lock Pick: charm, dub, kate, screw
Money: blunt, caravan, iron, lowre, plate, pony, rag, ready, rhino, ribbin, wedge, king’s pictures
Receiver of Stolen Goods: family man, fence
Sleight of Hand: fam lay, paum
Steal: bite, cloy, curbing law, heave, hoist, lift, nim, prad lay
Suspicion (to realize something is up): twig
Tavern Owner: beggar maker
Thief: angler, napper, prigger, nipper
Thieves Guild Hideout: stop hole abbey, stuling ken, stalling ken, flash ken, fencing ken, dive
Thieves Guild Leader: dimber damber, upright man, arch rogue, prince prig
Thieves Guild License: (permission to work thieves guild turf) jukrum
Thieves Guild Member: made man
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