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 — 8 terms
Showing top 8 by viewsargle-bargle
1822🗺️ Regional & Other
argy-bargy
1822🗺️ Regional & Other
toboggan
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
lucifer match
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
boko
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
hornswoggle
1829🗺️ Regional & Other
buy it
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
trolley
1823⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
Morgan's mule
1825🗺️ Regional & Other
bunkum
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
lunch
1829⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
serial
1823⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
punnet
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
sparrow-fart
1828🗺️ Regional & Other
Tyndall stone
1820🗺️ Regional & Other
hello
1826🗺️ Regional & Other
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.