As Whovians, we have a language all our own, like any fandom. Here is your run down on any terms you were curious about or ones that may be mentioned in this book. These are the most important things to know in the Whoniverse, but not all of the ones you'll come across. Feel free to comment any you'd like us to add on this chapter.

Season - A season of Doctor Who's classic series. Seasons of the new series are also called seasons, but the BBC (and Netflix) refers to it this way.

Series - A season of Doctor Who's new series.

Serial - A group of episodes pertaining to an individual storyline. In Classic Who especially, a single story could be told over many twenty-minute episodes, the average being around six. We don't see serials in the new series, only ever two-parters.

Time Lords/Ladies - A race native to the planet Gallifrey, the only one in the universe with the ability to regenerate. They were the first to discover how to harness the power of the Time Vortex to travel through space and time, via a hole -- not a crack -- in space and time found only on their home world known as the Untempered Schism. They were a formidable and terrifying warrior race, their knowledge of the universe around them unchallenged by any other races'. They were the arch enemies of the Daleks before the majority of both races were eradicated when Gallifrey blew up in the Last Great Time War. The most famous Time Lord is the Doctor, the only one to survive Gallifrey's burning, and also the one who caused it.

Gallifrey - The home planet of the Time Lords. It was in the constellation of Kasterborous and was also known as The Shining World of the Seven Systems. Gallifrey was believed to have been destroyed in the Last Great Time War, but the Doctor later discovered that all thirteen of his incarnations worked together to freeze it in a parallel pocket universe, ceasing its destruction, but making it look as though it had still blown up. It's about seven times the size of our planet and appears reddish orange from space. It's either more or less at the centre of its galaxy, or on the other size of ours, either 300 thousand, twenty-nine, or thirty lightyears away. We are not sure which due to contradicting testimonies in the show.

Regeneration - Referring to the process of the Time Lords' unique ability to regenerate. They are able to, when near death, rewrite their DNA into a totally different person's. They retain the same memories and knowledge. Much like what is said about the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, same man (or woman), different casing. When this happens, the previous body has already died, yet the Time Lord who is regenerating is still inside of it, then the body's cells are completely changed (albeit causing excruciating pain to the Time Lord) into a new body. Because of this, if a Time Lord is shot or wounded fatally while regenerating, they can be permanently killed and unable to regenerate further. It is possible to be born as a man and regenerate into a woman, although this is rare and commonly the Time Lord will retain the same gender throughout their regeneration.

Regeneration Energy - The energy that flows throughout all living Time Lords and that gives them their ability to regenerate. A formidable power source, many races would kill a Time Lord for their regeneration energy. It is possible for excess energy, among some of the Time Lord's other biological secret anomalies, to be extracted from a dead Time Lord's cells, which is why the deceased are burned on a funeral pyre.

TARDIS - The name of the time machine and spaceship created by the Time Lords. Its initials stand for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, hence the capitalization, it is an anagram. It's supposed to have the ability to change its exterior to match its surroundings, but the most famous TARDIS, belonging to the Time Lord known as the Doctor, is stuck as a 1960s blue police box due to a broken Chameleon Circuit.

One/The First Doctor - Usually just called the First Doctor, with the Doctors of the new series being called by their numbers, this refers to the body the Doctor was born in, played by William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966.

Two/The Second Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's first regeneration and second incarnation, played by Patrick Troughton from 1966 to 1969.

Three/The Third Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's second regeneration and third incarnation, played by Jon Pertwee from 1970 to 1974.

Four/The Fourth Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's third regeneration and fourth incarnation, played by Tom Baker. This is an iconic Doctor who boosted the show's popularity and had the longest reign, being seven seasons from 1974 to 1981.

Five/The Fifth Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's fourth regeneration and fifth incarnation, played by Peter Davison from 1981 to 1984.

Six/The Sixth Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's fifth regeneration and sixth incarnation, played by Colin Baker from 1984 to 1986.

Seven/The Seventh Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's sixth regeneration and seventh incarnation, played by Sylvester McCoy from 1987 to 1989, but being the Doctor until 1996. We never saw him regenerate because the show was cancelled, but knew he had when the BBC produced a TV movie with the Doctor portrayed by a different actor.

Eight/The Eighth Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's seventh regeneration and eighth incarnation, played by Paul McGann in only the 1996 movie. We didn't see him regenerate until a webisode was released in 2013 showing his regeneration into the War Doctor prior to The Day of the Doctor, Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary episode.

War/The War (Ninth) Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's eighth regeneration and war incarnation, played by John Hurt. We didn't know of this regeneration, between the eighth and what we consider to be the ninth Doctor until 2013, when he was shown in Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary episode. It explains the show's break from 1996 to 2005 and the Doctor saying that there were some parts of his past he liked to forget. The War Doctor was a regeneration specifically engineered by the Sisterhood of Karn at the Doctor's request to be a fighter that could battle in the Time War. The Doctor chooses to block out this part of his past, saying that he was him, but not the Doctor, so we don't call him the ninth Doctor, even though this was his ninth regeneration cycle.

Nine/The Ninth (or Tenth) Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's ninth regeneration and incarnation, played by Christopher Eccleston in 2005. He was the first Doctor of the new series.

Ten/The Tenth (or Eleventh and Twelfth) Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's tenth and eleventh regenerations and tenth incarnation, played by David Tennant from 2005 to 2010 over the course of three series and nine specials. This Doctor regenerated twice, first from Christopher Eccleston's incarnation; then a second time, keeping the same face.

Eleven/The Eleventh (or Thirteenth) Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's twelfth (and supposed to be final as Time Lords only get twelve regenerations) regeneration and eleventh incarnation, played by Matt Smith from 2010 to 2013. 

Twelve/The Twelfth (or Fourteenth) Doctor - In reference to the Doctor's thirteenth regeneration and twelfth incarnation, played by Peter Capaldi since 2013. He is the current Doctor. Twelve was never supposed to have existed, since Time Lords die after their twelfth regeneration, giving them (usually) thirteen different appearances, but the Time Lords, trapped in a parallel bubble universe, gave the Doctor some of their regeneration energy through a crack in space and time so that he could keep on living as the last living Time Lord of our universe.