The evolution of English slang

Автор: Давлетмирзаева Элиза Абдрзаковна

Организация: МОУ Лицей № 4 Волжского района

Населенный пункт: Саратовская область, г. Саратов

Abstract: English language was always a cultural indication of its country. It shows traditions and spiritual world of its owner. And while listening to the speech, have you ever heard someone say “lit,” “yeet,” or “bae” and wondered what they meant? These words are part of a special type of language called slang. Slang is a kind of informal speech that people use to communicate with friends and peers. It’s often creative, playful, and changes rapidly over time. But how do these new words make their way into our everyday conversations? Let’s explore the evolution of slang!

Keywords: English slang, jargon, linguistic usages

The birth of the slang

In the 1740s, slang first crystallizes into a word with a very specific context and a distinctive range of related meanings, emerging as a word chiefly found in reports of the speech of an underclass of thieves, beggars, who often associated with them and shared much of the same vocabulary. It’s in this decade that we see a concrete extension of ‘criminal scheme’ into a new sense in which slangs appears to denote items acquired by theft or targeted by thieves. Throughout the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries we continue to see the word develop new senses referring to trickery, a performance (1757) or travelling show (1821), a fraudulent weight or measure (1851), and a licence or permit (1819) .

The earliest evidence for this conversion of the noun slang into a verb , in the sense ‘To get the better of (a person) by dishonest means’, comes from an account of the criminal career of Mary Young, who was executed at Tyburn in 1741.

If phrases seem opaque, that was the point. For much of the later eighteenth century, slang is part of the secret vocabulary used chiefly by criminals as a kind of anti-language designed to baffle and exclude outsiders and to communicate dishonest or disreputable intentions and exploits. The secret language or argot of Britain’s underworld had been known as cant since at least the later seventeenth century, and was known as pedlar’s (or peddling) French a century before that (in the nineteenth century, it would often be called thieves’ Latin). In the 1750s we see it gaining a new name, slang, and a new, linguistic branch of development opens up for that word. In 1756 we are told that ‘Thomas Throw had been upon the town, knew the slang well’, had worked as an attendant in gambling dens, ‘and understood every word in the scoundrel’s dictionary’. 1758 gives us our first evidence of advectival use (covered in OEDslang adj. & adv.), in the phrase slang patter or ‘this Cant Language’.

Etymological interlude

The etymology of slang remains uncertain, although several previously advanced theories seem unlikely to provide a satisfactory explanation of the development and chronology of the word in English. These include deriving the word from the verb to sling, from French langue (language), or from ancestors of the Dutch or German words for ‘snake’ (slang and Schlange), or relating it to the Norwegian slengjeord and slengjenamn (it`s a mocking word and derogatory nickname).

The most attractive of the unproven possibilities discussed in our revised etymology was first advanced in the 1860s by the philologist Isaac Taylor, who suggested that slang vocabulary had taken its name from a regional word for any narrow strip of land or especially waste ground, with this name for the fields and roadside verges on which hawkers and other itinerants camped on the travels being transferred to the language they used amongst themselves. The chronology of our revised entry suggests that the notion of working a particular ‘patch’ or ‘lay’ might intervene between the topographical word and the linguistic senses, but the theory first advanced by Isaac and developed by later etymologists remains the prime but unproven suspect in the emergence of the word we know today.

Linguistic developments

The idea that slang was a language for a particular group of people or in a particular context is key to its later development. Today we still talk about ‘internet slang’, ‘generation-Z slang’ (1995-2009), or ‘schoolyard slang’ to refer to distinctive varieties of very colloquial and informal language, and our earliest evidence for the development of the word slang outside of its underworld context is in reference to the language of sailors and public schoolboys.

This notion of confinement to a group also contributes to a more obviously depreciative sense, in which the relatively formal or technical language used within a profession or class of people is called their slang, especially when it is implied that the intention is to deceive, confuse, or exclude others—the development of similar senses can be seen in the histories of the words cant and jargon. The idea of deception (or at least of lack of substance or sincerity) is reflected in the more general (and now obsolete) nineteenth-century sense ‘empty, deceptive, or hypocritical words, nonsense, humbug’. The sense ‘abuse, impertinence, criticism’ is first seen in 1780s, and is obsolete as a noun by the end of the nineteenth century. The verbal extension of this sense, though, persists, both as a simple verb meaning ‘to abuse or criticize’, and as a verbal noun, slanging—perhaps most immediately familiar, especially to speakers of British-influenced English, in slanging match.

Not gonna spread the science stuff for now, cuz` let us see some of an examples of popular slang words:

Cap = lying;

Fam = short of FAMILY;

Bet = absolutely sure;

Cheugy = uncool;

Salty = having a bad mood;

And one of the most popular teenager word nowadays, cringe = humiliation.

Is slang evolving? As we know, every generation brings something new to this world, whenever you like it, or not. Slang, for example. New Generation ALPHA, which includes people born from 2010-nowadays, also got us something new for our speech.

I`m not going to be a story teller of every word, so, here are most popular words of this gen as well:

Rizz= comes from the word charisma, and, I guess, got obtained with double Z to make itself hear more cooler by the measure of nowadays kids;

Sigma= word describing a best version of human or it`s use to approve an anction from someone. Basically being used as an ultimate form of word «alpha» What`s alpha? Alpha/beta= dominant person / someone who`s less assertive. Leaning on that, I can say yes, slang is evolving indeed.

Off-topic “Fun” fact! Generation Z people more often call everything Alpha related «Brain-rot», thinking, that their slang has some mind laid in it, meanwhile often being condemned by their parents. This action proves that problem of generations will always be popular.

Why do we use slang?

While young adults are hip enough to know new slang before older generations, rarely do people know how or when the words came to be.

"More often than not, words that are slang end up becoming just part of the regular vernacular," said Emily Brewster, a senior editor at Merriam Webster, well known for its dictionary.

So, why do we use slang? We use slang as a way to have a special form of communication with a subset of people, by using words that are only understood by the small group of people, there's an intimacy that can develop.

How does slang spread?  "These days it spreads incredibly easily," said Brewster. "It used to be something that you would have to actually be in personal contact with someone in order to pick up slang vocabulary

The internet, specifically social media, allows new slang to spread much faster it used to. Before that, it was music and other creative arts that introduced people to slang.

If a word officially makes it into the dictionary, is it no longer slang? Slang words make it into the dictionary using the same criteria as other categories of words. Researchers at Merriam Webster search for how often the word is being used, especially in print. Slang might take longer than other words to get recognized by the dictionary, but that's changing.

Brewster said in the 1950s, it would take a slang word 30+ years to be recognized by the dictionary. Now, it can be within 10 years.

Why do some slang words stand the test of the time while others go out of style? Brewster said it's hard to predict which words will stick. Some might last so long they aren't even considered slang anymore. "Mad" was initially a slang word for angry more than 100 years ago. "It still has a kind of hint of it, of informality. Like angry is a word that's better suited for formal writing, but mad means angry," she said. "There are some words that are really remarkably good at hanging on to their informality. Like the word 'cool' has been around actually since the mid-18th century."

Slang words can also follow trends similar to fashion, falling out of style for one generation then being used again years alter. "I think it just works on a cyclical timeline," said one student. "Sometimes I might say 'groovy.' I might just throw it in there because I resonate with some imagery from the 70's," added another student.

Practical part

For this paragraph I decided to make some sort of a social polls. First, I asked people from age 20- ~60 in my country “Do you know what teenagers trying to say to you, when they`re using foreign slang?”

As you can see on the diagram, 68% of 20-30 aged people know the meaning of some words they hear from teens, but other 32% of 40-60 aged don`t.

Then, I decided to ask the ones who does know the meaning, AKA teenagers from age 10-18 “How often do you use slang words in your speech?”

The answers were pretty predictable, teens nowadays use slang in their speech like it`s their hands. But still, younger citizen using it more.

Conclusion: Every language is the people's device to interact to other people. The interaction is supported by language variant, one is slang. Hated by someone, but still being in use for a long time. The word slang and it`s appearances had a long story: from being a criminal jargon to what teenagers use to shorten words or to be on a same wave as some groups of people. Still, slang is clearly a phenomenon in English speech and it always be something that people can throw away.

 

 

List of literature:

1. Nehru P.P. An Analysis of Slang Language Used In English Students’ Interaction // Jurnal Onoma: Pendidikan, Bahasa, dan Sastra. – 2022. – V. 8. – №. 2.

2. Oxford English dictionary. The rise and rise of slang. – 2025.

URL: https://www.oed.com/discover/the-rise-and-rise-of-slang/ (дата обращения: 21.01.2026)

3. Why do we use slang? CBS Minnesota. – 2023.

URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/why-do-we-use-slang-good-question/ (дата обращения 22.01.2026)