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.
1970s — 137 terms
Showing top 120 by views70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
kaputz
1979🔊
humping
1974bluesky
🔊sarbut
1973🔊
Rocky
1976bluesky
🔊brick
1970bluesky
🔊gist (Nigerian)
1970🔊
burnout
1974🔊
1PP
1973🔊
pull a sickie
1970🔊
craic
1970🔊
grown-ass
1970🔊
diff
1975discord
🔊cortado
1970🔊
boot boy
1970🔊
making off without payment
1978🔊
troopie
1970🔊
soca
1970bluesky
🔊scally
1970bluesky
🔊piss-taker
1970🔊
latency
1970🔊
neoconservatism
1970🔊
irie
1970🔊
fabby
1970🔊
gnarly
1970bluesky
🔊canola oil
1978bluesky
🔊rollie
1970🔊
tauhou
1973🔊
ratfucking
1970bluesky
🔊firepower kill
1970🔊
snow bunny
1970🔊
agri-food
1970🔊
40 mike-mike
1970🔊
refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
1971amakweta
1978🔊
nooner
1970🔊
Alpen
1971🔊
animal house
1978🔊
Accy
1970🔊
Guzz
1970🔊
what it is
1972youtube
🔊b-boying
1970🔊
throw a sickie
1970🔊
beat off
1970🔊
gong show
1970bluesky
🔊catch a buzz
1970🔊
duck butter
1973🔊
fair suck of the sauce bottle
1970🔊
chuck a sickie
1970🔊
schoolies week
1975🔊
FUD
1970twitter
🔊dy-no-mite
1970🔊
cockblocker
1971🔊
numbnuts
1970bluesky
🔊whack-a-mole
1977bluesky
🔊Malfunction Junction
1973🔊
drink the Kool-Aid
1978bluesky
🔊ockerism
1970🔊
triggered
1970bluesky
🔊jobsworth
1973🔊
choke and puke
1977🔊
OCCB
1970🔊
patrial
1971🔊
airball
1979🔊
paratransit
1972🔊
bong hit
1978🔊
First Nation
1970bluesky
🔊nutmeg
1970bluesky
🔊dirty pillow
1974🔊
packing for Perth
1977🔊
naughty step
1970bluesky
🔊faith-based
1970bluesky
🔊cultural Marxism
1973🔊
chicken-in-a-basket circuit
1970🔊
nigger lottery
1970🔊
Section 226
1970🔊
ass out
1970bluesky
🔊fang it
1970🔊
coke whore
1979🔊
aerogard
1972🔊
dickwit
1970🔊
Norwich Pharmacal order
1974🔊
Miller test
1973🔊
liftback
1973🔊
green ban
1973🔊
pootle
1970🔊
gazonga
1970🔊
bazonga
1970🔊
hail mary
1970bluesky
🔊America at home
1971🔊
greenie
1973🔊
cockblock
1972🔊
Alf
1970🔊
snackwich
1970🔊
know when to fold 'em
1978🔊
shonky
1970🔊
hellagood
1970🔊
Archie Bunker house
1970🔊
texta
1970🔊
gork
1970🔊
Chocolate City
1970🔊
assholism
1970🔊
Harvey Smith sign
1971🔊
double-nickel
1970🔊
horsehide
1974🔊
Canuck
1975🔊
after school special
1972🔊
pickin' and grinnin'
1970🔊
cheese fries
1970bluesky
🔊get one's ya-yas out
1970🔊
Mareva injunction
1975🔊
crackhead
1978bluesky
🔊corflute
1970🔊
post-punk
1970bluesky
🔊group of death
1970🔊
mediaperson
1970🔊
bonk-on
1970🔊
mobile
1978bluesky
🔊ice kachang
1972🔊
gangsta lean
1974🔊
kick ass and take names
1970🔊
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.