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.
1850s — 16 terms
Showing top 16 by views50
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bidness
1850🎤 Black culture & AAVE
bluesky
🔊dak bungalow
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊butty
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊booling
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊butterball
1850🍔 Food & Drink
🔊multee kertever
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊chaw up
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊threadworm
1850🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊rehra
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊amshom
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊piccolo
1856⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊baller
1850👗 Fashion & Lifestyle
bluesky
🔊callboy
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊lob-crawling
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊peckerwood
1859🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊braffin
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊kurvey
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊native millet
1850🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊kokama
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊lob-sneaking
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊maika
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊East End
1850🎤 Black culture & AAVE
bluesky
🔊plebe
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊flatware
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊maum
1850🎤 Black culture & AAVE
🔊jomer
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊pass up like a white chip
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊front
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊about east
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊noplace
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊fella
1850🌐 Internet & Memes
bluesky
🔊no-account
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊amoeba
1850🎤 Black culture & AAVE
bluesky
🔊accountancy
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊nish
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊ned
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊fishhooks
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊affiant
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊jerkwater
1852⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊alanna
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊flaghopper
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊donah
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊fish food
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊accumulator
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
twitter
🔊femalefolk
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊piggy-wig
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊padding-ken
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊Fanny Adams
1859🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊deep freeze
1851🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Calamity Jane
1852🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊brickfielder
1850🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊get down to brass tacks
1854⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊as game as Ned Kelly
1854🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
1851⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊balaclava
1854🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊yabber
1855🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊brain rot
1854🗺️ Regional & Other
tiktok
🔊freedumb
1856🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊Smithereen
1850🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊chopse
1854🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊hog train
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊heavens to Betsy
1857🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Gentle Annie
1856⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊Mason jar
1858🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊dead to rights
1854🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊french fries
1856🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊Fink truss
1854🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊three sisters
1850⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
youtube
🔊goner
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊goldbrick
1850🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Bishop Barker
1855🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊blind man's buff
1854⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊bully pulpit
1858🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊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.