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.
1890s — 13 terms
Showing top 13 by views90
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boil the ocean
1893💼 Corporate & Work
🔊line drawing
1891🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊ack emma
1898🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊field house
1895🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊spruik
1890🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊bastille
1897🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊fatty boombalatty
1899🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊solidus
1899🎤 Black culture & AAVE
bluesky
🔊eggs Benedict
1898⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊redcap
1890⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊nonplussed
1899🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Jacky Howe
1890🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊uitlander
1890🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊caucus
1896🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊Heinz 57
1896🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊deflate
1891⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊comstockery
1895🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊jumbuck
1896🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊quick-and-dirty
1896🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊diesel
1892⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊smoodge
1898🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊exoduster
1899🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊pogey
1891🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊corset
1893⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊Jimmy Woodser
1892🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊shiralee
1892🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊piepowder
1897⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊roque
1899🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊cinema
1890🌐 Internet & Memes
bluesky
🔊Gibson Girl
1890👗 Fashion & Lifestyle
🔊Gunga Din
1890🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊neenish tart
1895🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊private-wire house
1894🎤 Black culture & AAVE
🔊Godzone
1890🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊golliwog
1895⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊Allen charge
1896🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Kris Kringle
1893🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Belyando spew
1891🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊prissy
1895🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊garden city
1890⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊Jewnited States
1892🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊hootchy-kootchy
1890🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊fossick
1893⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊stoush
1893🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊military-industrial complex
1890🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊bloody noun
1892🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊benevolent assimilation
1898🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊bonzer
1890🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊breadpill
1892🗺️ 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.