A frag is a single kill of an opponent. In match statistics it is the number of kills a player has scored, and in players' talk it is almost any successful elimination of an opponent: "got three frags in a round", "fragged out on an eco", "nobody fragged him".
Where the word comes from
The term comes from the English frag. It took hold in online first-person shooters, where the main goal was to kill opponents and count points. The word is thought to be linked to fragmentation, that is, the scattering of shards when a grenade explodes. Sources describe the exact chain of how it appeared in gaming differently, so all that can be said with confidence is that in shooters the word became standard.
How the word is used
Frag appears in several forms:
- Noun: "he has 25 frags for the map".
- Verb: "to frag", "to frag out", "to frag down": to actively kill opponents.
- Fragger: a player whose role in the team is to rack up kills. Usually he goes into the fight first and gets the most favorable duels.
- To trade frags: to exchange kills with an enemy.
Close to frag are related concepts. An assist is help with a kill, when a player dealt damage but another one finished the target off. A kill is a synonym of frag, a more neutral word. KDA is the ratio of kills, deaths and assists, which is often shown in the results table.
Why frags do not equal victory
In team games, kills are only part of the picture. The squad with the most frags does not always win: what matters more is who completed the round objective, took the site, planted or defused the bomb, and preserved the economy. A player can rack up many frags in a free-for-all when the outcome of the round is already decided, and barely affect the result.
That is why analysts and commentators often separate "pretty" frags from "useful" ones: the former go into the statistics, the latter change the course of the round. A frag that opens the way to a bomb plant is worth more than a kill of an already retreating opponent.
Example
In Counter-Strike 2, a team goes to take a site. One player is the first to make contact and kills two opponents. These are frags that immediately give a numbers advantage and make entry easier for the others. Meanwhile a second player holds the flank and gets no kills at all, but does not let the enemy through to the rear. By the scoreboard the first looks more effective, yet the team won the round thanks to both.
Such an example shows why different roles are needed in a lineup: not everyone has to be a fragger, and the number of frags remains just one of the metrics of contribution to the game.