Slang, more than any other language, remains spoken and resists being recorded on paper (or for that matter any other medium).
The dating of slang words and phrases is difficult due to the nature of slang. Recognising that there are many definitions, he goes on to say, "Among the many descriptions of slang, one thing is common, it is a long way from mainstream English". Jonathon Green, in his 1999 book The Cassell Dictionary of Slang, defines slang as "A counter language, the language of the rebel, the outlaw, the despised and the marginal". The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar (1994) defines it as "Words, phrases, and uses that are regarded as informal and are often restricted to special contexts or are peculiar to specific profession, classes etc". It is often used to identify with one's peers and, although it may be common among young people, it is used by people of all ages and social groups.Ĭollins English Dictionary (3rd edition) defines slang as "Vocabulary, idiom etc that is not appropriate to the standard form of a language or to formal contexts, may be restricted as to social status or distribution, and is characteristically more metaphorical and transitory than standard language". Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo (see euphemism). Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Many of the words and phrases listed in this article are no longer in current use.
Lexicographer Eric Partridge published several works about British slang, most notably Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, revised and edited by Paul Beale. Not only is the slang used by British expats, but some of these terms are incorporated into other countries' everyday slang, such as in Australia, Canada and Ireland.īritish slang has been the subject of many books, including a seven volume dictionary published in 1889. Įnglish-speaking nations of the former British Empire may also use this slang, but also incorporate their own slang words to reflect their different cultures. London slang has many varieties, the best known of which is rhyming slang. The nations of the United Kingdom, which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all have their own slang words, as does London. Others are restricted to smaller regions, even to small geographical areas. While some slang words and phrases are used throughout Britain (e.g. The language of slang, in common with the English language, is changing all the time new words and phrases are being added and some are used so frequently by so many, they almost become mainstream. Slang is informal language sometimes peculiar to a particular social class or group and its use in Britain dates back to before the 15th century.
It is also used in the United States to a limited extent. To learn more, see the privacy policy.British slang is English-language slang originating from and used in the United Kingdom and also used to a limited extent in Anglophone countries such as Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, especially by British expatriates. Please note that Urban Thesaurus uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: and you might like to check out the growing collection of curated slang words for different topics over at Slangpedia. There is still lots of work to be done to get this slang thesaurus to give consistently good results, but I think it's at the stage where it could be useful to people, which is why I released it. Please also note that due to the nature of the internet (and especially UD), there will often be many terrible and offensive terms in the results. Or you might try boyfriend or girlfriend to get words that can mean either one of these (e.g. The search algorithm handles phrases and strings of words quite well, so for example if you want words that are related to lol and rofl you can type in lol rofl and it should give you a pile of related slang terms. The higher the terms are in the list, the more likely that they're relevant to the word or phrase that you searched for. Note that this thesaurus is not in any way affiliated with Urban Dictionary.ĭue to the way the algorithm works, the thesaurus gives you mostly related slang words, rather than exact synonyms. The official Urban Dictionary API is used to show the hover-definitions. These indexes are then used to find usage correlations between slang terms. The Urban Thesaurus was created by indexing millions of different slang terms which are defined on sites like Urban Dictionary.