Fighting game terminalogy certainly isn't the easiest or most clear-cut lingo to learn, and can be somewhat overbearing on newer players trying to get more familiarized with the genre. Even some more experienced players might not know a term or two. This glossary hopefully helps to give you any term you need in a very simple dialect, and even includes some terms specific to this game. Any time one of these terms is brought up on other pages in this site, you can click on that word and get linked to the definition on this page in a new window for ease of use.
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Active
Refers to the period in an attack where it has a hitbox and can deal damage to the opponent. The quantity of how active an attack can be is measured in frames, which is where the usage of the term "Active Frames" comes from.
Example: Dude's stand medium punch is active for 4 frames, or in other words has 4 active frames.
Synonyms: Attack Frames, Hitting Frames
Bait
Doing something to provoke a certain move from the opponent and countering accordingly. You're tricking the opponent into thinking their decision will work, when it won't.
Example: Walking forwards on a downed opponent and then back-dashing right before they are able to attack is great for baiting reversal attacks.
Synonyms: Lure, Trap, Tease
Cancel
Though used in many contexts, this usually means to remove the recovery of an action, whether it be an attack or some movement option. This is a catch-all term, and has more specific terms to more accurately describe how an action is cancelling into another.
Example: A good combo always involves a normal attack cancelling into a special move.