Muhaddislar tomonidan tez-tez ishlatiladigan atamalarning ma'nolarini bilish lozim. Ular: hadīs, xabar, asar va sunnat; hadis atamalari va uning rivoyat qilinishi nuqtayi nazaridan: matn, sanad, isnod, musnad va musnid; rivoyat qiluvchilar nuqtayi nazaridan: muhaddis, hofiz, hujjat va hokim. Bu so'zlarning hadis ilmi istilohidagi ma'nolarini bayon qilsak, quyidagicha:

One should be familiar with the meanings of terms that are frequently used by the muhaddithin. They are: hadīth, khabar, athar and Sunnah; from the perspective of the terms of hadīth and its transmission: matn, sanad, isnād, musnad and musnid; from the perspective of the transmitters: muhaddith, hāfidh, hujjah and hākim. As for the exposition of the meanings of these words in the terminology of hadīth, then it is as follows:

1. Hadis: Payg'ambarga ﷺ nisbat berilgan har qanday so'z, amal, tasdiq yoki jismoniy sifatlar, ya'ni uning yaratilishiga oid narsalar — masalan, u na baland bo'yli, na past bo'yli bo'lgani, yoki xulqiga oid narsalar — ya'ni uning xulqiga tegishli, masalan, [hech kimga makruh bo'lgan narsa bilan qarshilik qilmagani] kabilar ﷺ. Xabar va sunnat ham xuddi shu ma'noni anglatadi. Ular hadis atamasi bilan sinonimdir. Bularning barchasi, ya'ni hadis, xabar va sunnat bir xil ma'noga ega. Asar esa sahobalarda to'xtab qolgan hadisdir [mavqūf].