Slang time machine
Every English slang term has a moment it first showed up in print or on someone's lips. We've tagged 3,074 terms with a first attested decade — from 18th-century thieves’ cant through to 2020s internet vocabulary. Pick a decade below.
1920s — 72 terms
Showing top 72 by views20
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arvo
1927🔊
clutch
1920discord
🔊Jaycee
1920bluesky
🔊cat
1920🔊
c-note
1920🔊
Jaffa cake
1927🔊
1031 exchange
1921🔊
absofuckinglutely
1920bluesky
🔊32-county
1922🔊
chickie
1920🔊
Abe Lincoln
1929🔊
Madison Avenue
1920🔊
drongo
1920🔊
jimmies
1922🔊
hipster
1920bluesky
🔊fresh fucked fox in a forest fire
1920🔊
Mickey Mouse
1928bluesky
🔊band-aid
1924bluesky
🔊G-men
1928🔊
booder
1920🔊
Negro History Week
1926🔊
Geddes Axe
1920🔊
Durex
1929🔊
flub
1924🔊
heart as big as Phar Lap
1926🔊
Chrimbo
1928🔊
skint
1925bluesky
🔊rooned
1921🔊
fart through silk
1920🔊
cooze
1929🔊
cowson
1920🔊
jamoke
1920🔊
Pullman
1928bluesky
🔊zipper
1925bluesky
🔊how are you diddling
1927🔊
aah, Bisto
1920🔊
Governor Winthrop desk
1924🔊
monomark
1925🔊
big mo
1924🔊
Zimmer frame
1927🔊
lilyturf
1920🔊
sandhog
1928🔊
Twizzler
1920🔊
sad sack
1920bluesky
🔊doofus
1920bluesky
🔊teal
1923bluesky
🔊apartheid
1929bluesky
🔊grockle
1920🔊
sagamore
1920🔊
gatsby
1925bluesky
🔊hobbyist
1929bluesky
🔊Gordie Howe hat trick
1928🔊
Aggieland
1920🔊
duco
1920🔊
palooka
1920🔊
curb cut
1920🔊
Nevada gas
1924🔊
Bob's your uncle
1924🔊
jalopy
1920🔊
Weet-Bix
1920🔊
cream
1929bluesky
🔊fat cat
1920bluesky
🔊kleenex
1924bluesky
🔊live paycheck to paycheck
1929🔊
faggoty
1920🔊
Crossroads of America
1925🔊
Leary biscuit
1920🔊
gloriosky
1927🔊
kitchen sink
1924bluesky
🔊zap
1920🔊
scofflaw
1923🔊
starkers
1923🔊
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.