Pronounced "Leet", short for "Elite". The original phrase was 31337, or "Elite", referring to the best hackers. It is still used today by some of the good hackers, but the word has been picked up and overused by so many losers and posers that its meaning has been corrupted.

Hacker "Sp33k" for leet, or elite. Originating from 31337 "eleet", the UDP port used by Dead Cow Cult, a hacker group, to access Windows 95 using Back Orifice, a notorious hacking program.

A language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Some people create their own 1337 letters and it makes them look more 1337 by fellow 1337-speakers. Here is an alphabet of 1337 letters I know and have created:

A: 4 or l\ or ^ or @ or /\ or /-\
B. l3 or 8 or ß or ]3 or l:
C: ( or < or © or ¢
D: l) or l> or ])
E:3 or £
F: l= or # or ƒ
G:6 or 9
H: # or l-l or (-) or !-! or }-{ or }{ or l+l or )+( or !+! or }+{
L: 1 or ! or ]
J: _l or _/
K: l< or l( or l{ or l<=
L: l_ or ! or 1
M: l\/l or /\/\ or l\l\ or ^^
N: l/l or /\/
O: 0 or () or <> or * or ø or Ó or °
P: l* or l> or |D or l^ or l+
Q:& or (\) or ¶
R: l2 or ®
S: 5 or $ or §
T:+ or 7
U: l_l or /_/
V: \/
W:|/\| or \/\/ or |/\/ or \/\|
X: >< or }{ or :-:
Y: ¥
Z: 2

n. 1. Nestled between 1336 and 1338, 1337 is commonly known as a number, or for the more advanced; an "integer"
2. Often misused to satisfy a lamen's ego, the self-proclaimed 1337 will misuse the title, pretending to hold Xtr3m H4x0r capabilties while in fact masturbating to preteen beastiality at 2:00 AM with baggy eyes; anonymously hassling n00b's with better things to do than kill their babies over mindrot such as Everquest and Warcraft. See also "colon debris" and "queefstain"

one thousand three hundred and thirty seven

(i do know the true meaning)

Once used by the hacker community as sort of a sub-culture language, ANYONE using this type of speak in the present day in age is either:

A) A clueless net newbie who somehow thinks its still "cool" to speak this way.

B) A veteren net user who uses it to parody the type of people mentioned in example A.

1337 is the language of hackers and newbies across the internet. Also, the words in 1337 are usually short(ie "are" becomes "r") and intentionally spelt wrong(ie "the" becomes "teh", this is most common with e switching places and o's becoming p's)

the mostly complete translation chart(exluding unicode characters, ie ©):
A=4 /-\ @ ^ /\
B=8 ]3 ]8 |3 |8
C=( {
D=) } |) |} |> >
E=3
F*=# |=
G=6 9 (_>
H=# |-| (-) )-( }{ {-} /-/ \-\
I=1 ! |
J**=_| j
K=|< |{
L=1 |_
M=/\/\ |\/| \/
N=/\/ |\| \
O=0 ()
P=|D |* |>
Q=0,
R=|2 |? |-
S=5
T=7 + ']'
U=(_) |_| \_\ /_/
V=\/
W=\/\/ |/\| /\
X**=>< }{ X
Y='/ %
Z**=2 z

Common mispellings:
the = teh
that = taht
take = taek
own = pwn
you = joo
dude = jood

common phonetic replacements(always used in true 1337):
f = ph
ck == xx

*there is no 'F' in true 1337, it is replaced by the 'ph' phonetic in true 1337

**acceptable when not replaced by a symbol