slang
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: slăng
ipa: /slæŋ/
ipa: [sleɪŋ]
rhymes: -æŋ
Forms: form: slangs
Etymology: First use appears c. 1756, meaning "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves", origin unknown. Not believed to be connected with language or lingo.
Possibly derived from a North Germanic source, then possibly related to Nordic language: Danish slænge, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk slengja, Norwegian slenge, Swedish slänga (“to (carelessly) sling, throw, hurl; throw away, to dispose of; to flail”), with derivational nouns such as slæng, sleng, släng etc. Compare the compound: Danish slængenavn, Norwegian slengenavn, Norwegian Nynorsk slengenamn, Swedish slängnamn (“nickname, byname, informal name”, literally “sling-name”), and the phrases: Norwegian Nynorsk slengja kjeften, Swedish slänga käften (“to abuse verbally”, literally “to sling one's jowl”), Swedish slänga ur sig (“to say something hastily, carelessly, thoughtlessly”, literally “to throw out of oneself”), also Swedish (regional) slänga (“careless, nonchalant girl”, literally “sling + feminine suffix -a”).
Senses: examples: text: She was amused by his talk, which was simple, straightforward, rather humorous and keen, and interspersed with homely expressions of a style which is sometimes called slang.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
text: English-speaking Australians have always had a love affair with slang.
ref: 1996, James Lambert, The Macquarie Book of Slang, Sydney: Macquarie Library, page v:
text: After years when I met a friend inside the aircraft and could sense stiffness in the conversation, a whiff of mild slang was the ice breaker, followed by loads of campus nostalgia.
ref: 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025:
glosses: Language outside of conventional usage and in the informal register.
glosses: Language that is unique to a particular profession or subject; jargon.
examples: text: "Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is getting to be shopkeepers' slang. / "Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity. / "Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class." / "There is correct English: that is not slang." / "I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."
ref: 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 172:
glosses: The specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to conceal one's meaning from outsiders; cant.
examples: text: [F]or a detailed analysis see Liberman (2008 157ff) who sees it as one of a number of terms found in pan-European slangs meaning concealment and/or cheating.
ref: 2023, Jonathon Green, Green’s Dictionary of Slang:
glosses: A particular variety of slang; the slang used by a particular group.
examples: text: Anyway, I have learned many slangs while I am in New York, and one of them, a remarkable slang, is sheister.
ref: 1921, Horace Fish, The Great Way: A Story of the Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Glorious, New York: Mitchell Kennerley:
text: The internet comes up with so many slangs used by people to survive in the online world. Many of those slangs are in the form of abbreviations, for instance, the word "u" which refers to "you"[.]
ref: 2019, Hendi Pratama, Linguistic Politeness in Online Communication, Semarang: LPPS Unnes:
text: More importantly and closer to life, slangs help build an instant intimacy and informality.
ref: 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025:
glosses: An item of slang; a slang word or expression.
examples: text: Such attempts were made even more aggressive by the fact that these local women were known for picking fights easily and using slangs to verbally abuse their neighbours.
ref: 2021, Sadan Jha, Dev Nath Pathak, Amiya Kumar Das, Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In Between Home and the City, page 82:
glosses: A curse word.
Synonyms: word: vernacular
word: jargon
word: lingo
word: cant
Derived terms: anti-slang
backslang
centre slang
medial slang
rhyming slang
slangdom
slanger
slangery
slangese
slangfest
slangful
slangfully
slangification
slangify
slanginess
slanging match
slangish
slangishly
slangishness
slangism
slangist
slangitis
slangland
slangless
slang-like
slangly
slangologist
slangology
slangonym
slangster
slanguage
slanguist
slangville
slangwhanger
slangwise
slangy