Glossary
Derrick Operator Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential derrick operator terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key derrick operator vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in derrick operator training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- BOP
- Blowout preventer.
- Driller
- The person who runs the rig floor.
- Drilling mud
- Fluid used in drilling.
- Elevators
- Clamps that lift pipe.
- Fingerboard
- Holds pipe stands in the derrick.
- Kick
- An influx of formation fluid.
- Monkeyboard
- A platform high on the derrick.
- Mud pump
- Pumps drilling fluid.
- Mud weight
- Density of the drilling fluid.
- Racking back
- Standing pipe in the derrick.
- Shale shaker
- Screens that remove cuttings.
- Stand
- Joints of pipe connected together.
- Tour
- A rig shift, pronounced “tower.”
- Trip
- Pulling pipe out or running it in.
- Viscosity
- Thickness of the fluid.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Derrick Operator practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Derrick Operator training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.