Trucker lingo: the CB dictionary, A to Z
By Evan DavidsonUpdated Sources checked
Trucker lingo grew up on CB radio, where drivers needed short, clear ways to warn each other about traffic, weather and weigh stations. Some of it became so popular in the 1970s that four-wheelers picked it up too. Plenty is still heard on channel 19 today.
Turn the dial to tune through every term in this dictionary, or scan the A to Z list below. Each entry has our own plain definition and a made-up example line, and each one links to a full page with where the term came from and how it is used now.
Trucker slang dictionary
- 10-4
- Message received and understood. The best-known code from the old ten-code lists, now used far beyond the CB.
- Alligator
- A strip of blown tire tread lying on the road, named for how it looks. It can bounce up and damage a vehicle.
- Back door
- Behind you. Drivers use it to say what is following them down the road.
- Bear in the air
- A police aircraft watching traffic speed from above.
- Breaker 1-9
- A call to break into conversation on CB channel 19, the channel most truckers keep tuned on the highway.
- Chicken coop
- A weigh station, where trucks are weighed and may be inspected.
- Convoy
- A group of trucks running together down the same road, often keeping in touch on the CB.
- Double nickel
- A 55 mph speed limit. Two fives, two nickels.
- Four-wheeler
- A passenger car or pickup, as opposed to an 18-wheeler.
- Hammer down
- Driving at full speed, foot pressed down on the accelerator.
- Mudflap girl
- The chrome silhouette design of a reclining woman seen on truck mudflaps since the 1970s.
- Ratchet jaw
- Someone who talks on the CB without stopping and keeps others from using the channel.
- Rig
- A truck, usually a tractor-trailer. Also the whole setup a driver runs.
- Rubber duck
- The lead truck in a convoy, the one setting the pace up front.
- Smokey
- A state trooper or highway patrol officer, named for the campaign hat that resembles Smokey Bear's.
- Tractor
- The power unit of a semi: engine, cab and drive axles, built to pull a trailer.
- Trailer
- The unit that carries the freight. A semi-trailer rests its front end on the tractor.
- Wiggle wagon
- A truck pulling two or three trailers, which sway as they follow each other.
- Yardstick
- A mile marker post along the highway.
A note on how lingo is used
CB talk changes by region and by decade. A term that is everyday in one part of the country can sound dated or unknown in another, and some phrases from the 1970s now live mostly in songs and movies. We describe what each term usually means and say when usage varies. We leave out terms that put down other people.
The examples on this page are our own lines, written to show the term in use. They are not quotes from real radio traffic.
More ways to learn the lingo
- Read the full guide to truck driver lingo, with the history of CB radio and how drivers talk now.
- Test yourself with the trucker slang quiz.
- Turn plain English into CB talk, and back, with the CB slang translator.
Breaker 1-9: need loads for your rig?
We dispatch owner-operators from 26 ft box trucks up. We find the freight and work the rate, and you say yes or no to every load.