slang

Here are 10 colorful phrases of yore to use the day after you partied a tad too passionately.

What constitutes ‘upstate’ is a little controversial.

You might know everything there is to know about New York City slang, but the moment you leave the city, fuhgeddaboudit. Upstate New York has its own set of regional colloquialisms, often depending on which area of the state you’re in.

You’re not the only person who has Googled “NPC meaning” of late.

There’s no doubt about it—rotting food is gross.

The word ‘gross,’ which came to English from French, took on a variety of senses in English related to size. But the ‘gross of today is different from the ‘gross’ of the past thanks to teens.

The face that launched a thousand memes.

The word predates social media.

We’ve used the term ‘rat’ to refer to an informer since approximately 1910. But criminals have had many more names for snitches over the years.

Some words are bound to make you laugh—but why?

“Wriggly, Squiffy, Lummox, and Boobs: What Makes Some Words Funny?” analyzed an existing list of 4997 funny words and recruited 800 survey participants to whittle down the collection to the 200 words the people found funniest.

You’ll want to start using these butt-related euphemisms from days past.

When talking about the fundament, some terms have slipped through the crack of lexical history—so please enjoy these old and enjoyable terms for the hindquarters.

The word ‘yo’ was around long before Rocky movies and rap songs.

The rich history of the English language is full of similar directional words that are cool but uncommon, like ‘pancakewards,’ ‘couchward,’ and ‘pocketwards.’

Nowadays, we use jones to express an intense craving for something. But it used to refer specifically to drugs.

What is an Irish goodbye—and why is it called that?

“The Drinkers Dictionary,” published by Franklin in the ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’ in January 1737, features terms like ‘nimptopsical’ and ‘cherubimical’ as synonyms for ‘drunk.’

Whatever you do, don’t mess up the meanings of ‘punter.’

You’ll be chuffed after you read this peng British slang list, with bare terms that will keep you from looking like a pillock.

Here are all the new jawns in the dictionary.

Non-Philadelphians can finally look up the meaning of ‘jawn’ in the dictionary.

We don’t know how these Victorian slang terms ever fell out of fashion, but we propose bringing them back, as soon as possible.

Are these two kaylied up, or are they merely drinking dog’s water?

These terms are sure to blow your wig.

The world is heating up, and things are often on fire—literally. As we do what we can to squelch the flames, check out some old and obscure words people of the past used when they wanted to talk about all things fire.

It's a wheel. Also a tire. With a rim. And a hubcap.

Get up to speed on your car lingo.

While your Deaf friends might get a good laugh when you accidentally sign “f**k you” instead of “thank you,” it’s still best to know the correct signs when interacting within the Deaf community.

Knowing a bit of Dutch slang will not just help you find your bearings when you visit Amsterdam and its surroundings, but also earn you respect from the locals—who, despite being great at English, have a strong connection to their mother tongue.

People who were up to no good should have been on the lookout for slops (police) who wanted to put them away for neves (seven years).

Back slang is kind of like a lexical puzzle that everyone from costermongers and criminals of the Victorian era to today’s Wordle fans can appreciate.

The f-word is often thought of as the most useful and flexible word in English. Whether that’s true or not, the term is so successful that it’s spawned dozens of euphemisms. Here are a few of them.

Atlanta’s culture doesn’t just resonate to the suburbs—it hits every corner of the country. But there’s always a chance you could get caught off guard while visiting, so here’s a handy sampler of terms to know if you decide to hold it down in A-Town.

10 Old-Timey Ways to Say You’re Hungover

15 Upstate New York Slang Terms You Should Know

25 of the Most Confusing Acronyms and Initialisms

How Did ‘Gross’ Become a Term of Disgust?

Where Does the Word ’Meme’ Come From?

35 Old-Timey Slang Terms for Informants

From Farts to Floozy: The Funniest Words in English, According to Science

13 Old and Obscure Terms for the Butt

The Surprisingly Long History of the Word ‘Yo’

21 Old and Odd Directional Words

How Did ‘Jones’ Come to Mean ‘Craving’?

Why Is Sneakily Leaving Called an “Irish” Goodbye or Exit?

Benjamin Franklin’s Long List of Synonyms for ’Drunk‘

30 British Slang Terms You Should Know

Jawns and Shower Oranges: See 30 of Dictionary.com’s Newly Added Terms

77 Delightful Victorian Slang Terms You Should Be Using

20 Delightful Slang Terms From the 1930s

15 Obscure Words That Are Pure Fire

Hubcaps vs. Rims: What’s the Difference?

20 ASL Signs You Don’t Want to Mix Up

15 Dutch Slang Terms You Should Know

7 Fun and Fascinating Pieces of Back Slang

11 Successful (and Silly) Euphemisms for the F-Word

20 Atlanta Slang Terms You Should Know