Slang time machine
Every English slang term has a moment it first showed up in print or on someone's lips. We've tagged 4,786 terms with a first attested decade — from 18th-century thieves’ cant through to 2020s internet vocabulary. Pick a decade below.
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1920s — 78 terms
Showing top 78 by views20
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arvo
1927🔊
cat
1920🔊
Jaycee
1920bluesky
🔊clutch
1920discord
🔊Jaffa cake
1927🔊
absofuckinglutely
1920bluesky
🔊32-county
1922🔊
Abe Lincoln
1929🔊
Madison Avenue
1920🔊
jimmies
1922🔊
Billy
1924bluesky
🔊1031 exchange
1921🔊
c-note
1920🔊
action
1923bluesky
🔊apple sauce
1921bluesky
🔊apartheid
1929bluesky
🔊skint
1925bluesky
🔊drongo
1920🔊
footsie
1923🔊
Aggieland
1920🔊
G-men
1928🔊
Durex
1929🔊
faggoty
1920🔊
booder
1920🔊
fuckwit
1929bluesky
🔊cream
1929bluesky
🔊fresh fucked fox in a forest fire
1920🔊
Negro History Week
1926🔊
big mo
1924🔊
Weet-Bix
1920🔊
jamoke
1920🔊
kleenex
1924bluesky
🔊fart through silk
1920🔊
zipper
1925bluesky
🔊sad sack
1920bluesky
🔊sagamore
1920🔊
Twizzler
1920🔊
jalopy
1920🔊
smash
1927bluesky
🔊palooka
1920🔊
hipster
1920bluesky
🔊Zimmer frame
1927🔊
gatsby
1925bluesky
🔊Leary biscuit
1920🔊
Chrimbo
1928🔊
rooned
1921🔊
heart as big as Phar Lap
1926🔊
doofus
1920bluesky
🔊monomark
1925🔊
scofflaw
1923🔊
cowson
1920🔊
lilyturf
1920🔊
Nevada gas
1924🔊
sandhog
1928🔊
curb cut
1920🔊
hobbyist
1929bluesky
🔊Mickey Mouse
1928bluesky
🔊chickie
1920🔊
live paycheck to paycheck
1929🔊
grockle
1920🔊
Gordie Howe hat trick
1928🔊
flub
1924🔊
band-aid
1924bluesky
🔊cooze
1929🔊
duco
1920🔊
Bob's your uncle
1924🔊
gloriosky
1927🔊
aah, Bisto
1920🔊
teal
1923bluesky
🔊Geddes Axe
1920🔊
fat cat
1920bluesky
🔊Governor Winthrop desk
1924🔊
Crossroads of America
1925🔊
how are you diddling
1927🔊
zap
1920🔊
starkers
1923🔊
kitchen sink
1924bluesky
🔊Pullman
1928bluesky
🔊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.