Animation cancelling
Also said as Cancel, Interrupt
Cutting one action short by starting another, skipping its recovery. Some games forbid it, some allow it, some build everything around it.
It is a choice between weight and responsiveness. No cancelling makes each attack a commitment. Free cancelling makes combat fast and expressive.
Say it
“Let dodge cancel any attack's recovery but not its startup. Players can get out of a mistake, but not after they commit to a swing.”
Where you’ve seen it
Street Fighter II's combos came partly from cancelling moves into specials, which the designers found during testing and kept. Devil May Cry is built on it.
Not to be confused with frame data
Frame data describes a move on its own. Cancelling is the rule about whether a later move can cut it off.