Slang time machine
Every English slang term has a moment it first showed up in print or on someone's lips. We've tagged 1,000 terms with a first attested decade — from 18th-century thieves’ cant through to 2020s internet vocabulary. Pick a decade below.
1820s — 3 terms
Showing top 3 by views20
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sheila
1828🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊ideation
1820💼 Corporate & Work
bluesky
🔊new money
1820🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊hello
1826🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊sparrow-fart
1828🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊serial
1823⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊lucifer match
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊trolley
1823⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊toboggan
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊boko
1820🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
bluesky
🔊punnet
1820🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊lunch
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊argle-bargle
1822🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊argy-bargy
1822🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊buy it
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊Tyndall stone
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Morgan's mule
1825🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊hornswoggle
1829🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊bunkum
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊More on how slang travels through time
The lifecycle of a slang word
Mint, scale, ironize, retire — how every viral term moves through the same five stages.
Where slang is born now
The platforms and subcultures that mint vocabulary in 2026 — and why TikTok shifted everything.
AAVE and internet slang
The single biggest source of new mainstream English vocabulary, and why most of the words you used today started here.
Attestation dates come from etymologies originally sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0) and editorial expansion authored on Slangora. They reflect the earliest documented use we found for each term, not necessarily the moment it was coined.