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.
1910s — 16 terms
Showing top 16 by views10
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lit
1910🔥 Gen Z & TikTok
tiktok
🔊touch base
1915💼 Corporate & Work
🔊napoo
1915🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊A-ration
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊ANC
1912🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊emma
1914🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
bluesky
🔊blimp
1915⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊cootie
1917🎤 Black culture & AAVE
🔊donkey's ears
1916⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊refugee
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊racialist
1910🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊Oreo
1912⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊joystick
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊Pygmalion word
1913🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊realtor
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊walk in the snow
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊jamboree
1919⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊bolshie
1918⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊scarper
1914🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊Chanakya
1915🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊grease monkey
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊blue balls
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊pommie
1912🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊go Dutch
1914⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊jazz
1912🎵 Music & Lyrics
bluesky
🔊bullshit
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bluesky
🔊furphy
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊roscoe
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊autistic
1913🌐 Internet & Memes
bluesky
🔊jaywalker
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Devdas
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊knees-up
1918🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊boondock
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊bimbo
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊national insurance
1911⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊Saturday-night special
1917⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊Founding Father
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊flivver
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Min Min light
1918⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊bozo
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊Saxbe fix
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊hog waller
1915🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊poutine
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊doohickey
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
bluesky
🔊how's your father
1910🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊copacetic
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊Robert Borden
1911🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊bush week
1919🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊bum's rush
1911🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊movie
1912🇦🇺 Australian & NZ slang
🔊san fairy ann
1914🇬🇧 British & Irish slang
🔊Jepson claim
1917⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊live rent-free in someone's head
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊ridge-runner
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊rock and roll
1914🎵 Music & Lyrics
bluesky
🔊Dixie cup
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊long drink of water
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
🔊pom
1912⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
🔊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.