slang

• enPR: slăng, IPA^(key): /slæŋ/
  • (US, æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [sleɪŋ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋ

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”).

slang (countable and uncountable, plural slangs)

1. Language outside of conventional usage and in the informal register.
   • 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:

     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.

   • 1996, James Lambert, The Macquarie Book of Slang, Sydney: Macquarie Library, page v:

     English-speaking Australians have always had a love affair with slang.

   • 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News‎^[1]:

     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.

2. Language that is unique to a particular profession or subject; jargon.
3. The specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to conceal one's meaning from outsiders; cant.
   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 172:

     "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."

4. (countable) A particular variety of slang; the slang used by a particular group.
   • 2023, Jonathon Green, Green’s Dictionary of Slang‎^[2]:

     [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.

6. (countable) An item of slang; a slang word or expression.
   • 1921, Horace Fish, The Great Way: A Story of the Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Glorious, New York: Mitchell Kennerley:

     Anyway, I have learned many slangs while I am in New York, and one of them, a remarkable slang, is sheister.

   • 2019, Hendi Pratama, Linguistic Politeness in Online Communication, Semarang: LPPS Unnes:

     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"[.]

   • 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News‎^[3]:

     More importantly and closer to life, slangs help build an instant intimacy and informality.

7. (countable, India) A curse word.
   • 2021, Sadan Jha, Dev Nath Pathak, Amiya Kumar Das, Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In Between Home and the City, page 82:

     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.

• Sense 5 is rare among native English speakers, although it may be common among non-native speakers.

• (jargon): vernacular, jargon, lingo, cant

• → Dutch: slang
• → Esperanto: slango
• → Estonian: släng
• → Finnish: slangi
• → German: Slang
• → Hebrew: סְלֶנְג (sleng)
• → Hungarian: szleng
• → Indonesian: slank
• → Malay: slanga
• → Polish: slang
• → Russian: сленг (sleng)

slang (third-person singular simple present slangs, present participle slanging, simple past and past participle slanged)

1. (transitive, dated) To vocally abuse, or shout at.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Miss Youghal's Sais”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2007, page 26:

     Also, he had to keep his temper when he was slanged in the theatre porch by a policeman.

   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XII [Uniform ed., p. 130]:

     Stephen feared that he would yell louder, and was hostile. But they made friends and treated each other, and slanged the proprietor and ragged the pretty girls …

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "If they had been a row of his favorite Pressmen he could not have slanged them worse."

• Category:English slang

slang

1. (archaic) simple past of sling
   • 1836, Edward Bagnall, Saul and David:

     Before he slang the all-deciding stone […]

• slanket

slang (plural slangs)

1. (UK, dialect) Any long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.
   • 1610, William Camden, translated by Philémon Holland, Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC:

     There runneth forth into the sea a certaine shelfe or slang, like unto an out~thrust tongue.

Compare sling.

slang (plural slangs)

1. (UK, obsolete) A fetter worn on the leg by a convict.
2. (UK, obsolete, slang) A counterfeit weight or measure.
3. (UK, obsolete, slang) A travelling show, or one of its performances.
4. (UK, obsolete, slang) A hawker's license.
5. (UK, obsolete, slang) A watchchain.

• “slang”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “slang”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “slang”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

The same as sling which is also used in this sense. The vowel exhibits the lowering of /ɪ/ before /ŋ/ distinguishing for African American Vernacular English, as in thang for thing, but the word has spread with this pronunciation outside the accents that exhibit this feature.

slang (third-person singular simple present slangs, present participle slanging, simple past and past participle slanged)

1. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, MLE) To sell (something, especially illegal drugs).

   Synonyms: sling, flog

   • 2014, “Bail Out”, Cdai (lyrics), performed by RondoNumbaNine ft. Cdai:

     Everyday I wake up gotta get back to the gwop
     Just another fuckin day in that gangway slangin rocks

   • 2016, “Call Me A Spartan”, TG Millian (lyrics), performed by Harlem Spartans (Blanco, Zico, Bis, TG Millian, MizorMac):

     Whip, whip in the trap do up kitchen that's food (that's food)
     Cookin up grub
     Fuck, these niggas cookin up soup (uhhhhh)
     Slang the crack or the black
     Put the light and dark on the move
     Gold and brown and cute
     Gyal love me and I love them too (too)

   • 2017, “Next Up?”, Digga D (lyrics), performed by 1011 (Digga D x Sav'O x T.Y):

     Bro I’m booky, I’ll take your food if my belly starts rumbling
     They rap about bootings, they ain’t blammed nobody
     Hold that properly when I bang that dotty
     I put sniff in a rex, and I slang that bobby
     

   • 2019 October 18, “Feed' Em”‎^[4]performed by #SG Jibbzy, 1:17–1:23:

     Bro is in the kitchen, know he can’t cook
     He is whipping shit that we use to slang
     This fat prick wanna chat on YouTube
     still had to cheat to deny he’s gang

• glans, langs

From Dutch slang (“snake, serpent”), from Middle Dutch slange (“snake, serpent”), from Old Dutch slango (“snake, serpent”), from Proto-Germanic *slangô (“snake, serpent”).

• IPA^(key): [slaŋ]

• Audio:

  (file)

slang (plural slange)

1. snake; serpent
   • 1983, E. P. Groenewald et al. (translators), Bybel, Genesis 3:2:

     Die vrou het die slang geantwoord: “Ons mag eet van die vrugte van die bome in die tuin."

     The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.

• grootslang

Borrowed from English slang. A false friend.

slang

1. (colloquial, informal) twang, foreign accent

slang

1. (colloquial, informal) (usually of English speakers) Having a regional or foreign accent

slang m inan

1. slang

Borrowed from English slang.

slang c (singular definite slangen or slanget, not used in plural form)

1. Language outside of conventional usage, slang.

• slangord
• slangordbog
• slangudtryk

See slange.

slang

1. imperative of slange

From Middle Dutch slange, from Old Dutch slango, from Proto-Germanic *slangô (“snake, serpent”).

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /slɑŋ/
• Hyphenation: slang
• Rhymes: -ɑŋ

slang f (plural slangen, diminutive slangetje n)

1. snake, squamate of the suborder Serpentes

   Synonym: serpent

   Hypernym: reptiel

2. hose (flexible tube)

• adder
• boa
• boomslang
• cobra
• gifslang
• python
• ratelslang
• wurgslang
• zeeslang

• Afrikaans: slang
• Berbice Creole Dutch: slanggi
• Negerhollands: slang, slaṅ
• Skepi Creole Dutch: slanka
• → Aukan: salan
• → Caribbean Javanese: selang
• → Indonesian: slang (“hose”)
• → Papiamentu: slan

Borrowed from English slang.

• IPA^(key): /slɛŋ/
• Hyphenation: slang
• Rhymes: -ɛŋ

slang n (plural slangs, diminutive slangetje n)

1. slang, language outside the conventional register specific to a social group

• glans, langs

From English slang.

• IPA^(key): /slaŋɡ/

slang m (plural slangs)

1. English slang

   Twain fut un des premiers auteurs provenant des terres intérieures des États-Unis qui a su capturer la distinction, le slang comique et l'iconoclasme de sa nation.

   Twain was one of the first authors coming from the interior of the United States who was able to capture the distinction, the comic slang and the iconoclasm of his nation.

• argot

• “slang”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /s(ə)laŋ/
• Rhymes: -laŋ, -aŋ, -ŋ
• Hyphenation: slang

From Dutch slang (“hose”, literally “snake”), from Middle Dutch slange, from Old Dutch slango, from Proto-Germanic *slangô (“snake, serpent”).

slang (plural slang-slang)

1. (rare) hose (flexible tube)

• Rarely used to avoid confusion with the second sense (from English slang). The alternative form selang is used instead, and becoming acceptable.

• selang

• هوس (hos) (Standard Malay)

Borrowed from English slang.

slang (plural slang-slang)

1. (linguistics) slang, unconventional language

   Synonym: selang

• slanga (Standard Malay)

• “slang” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Dutch slang.

• IPA^(key): [slɑŋ(ɡ)]

slang f

1. hose (flexible tube)

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Borrowed from English slang.

• IPA^(key): [slæŋ(ɡ)]

slang f

1. slang

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

From English slang.

slang m (definite singular slangen)

1. slang (non-standard informal language)

• sjargong

slang

1. imperative of slange

• “slang” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From English slang.

slang m (definite singular slangen)

1. slang (non-standard informal language)

• sjargong

• “slang” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /slɑnɡ/, [slɑŋɡ]

slang

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of slingan

Borrowed from English slang.

• IPA^(key): /ˈslaŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aŋk
• Syllabification: slang

slang m inan

1. (linguistics) argot, jargon, slang

   Synonyms: argot, gwara, żargon

• slang in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• slang in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English slang.

• IPA^(key): /slenɡ/

slang n (plural slanguri)

1. slang

   Synonym: argou

From Low German and Middle Low German slange, from Old Saxon slango, from Proto-Germanic *slangô.

slang c

1. hose, tube, flexible pipe

From English slang.

slang c

1. (uncountable) slang (language)

• slang in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• slang in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• slang in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• glans

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈslaŋ/ [ʔɪsˈlaŋ]
• Rhymes: -aŋ
• Syllabification: slang

slang (Baybayin spelling ᜐ᜔ᜎᜅ᜔)

1. alternative spelling of islang

slang (Baybayin spelling ᜐ᜔ᜎᜅ᜔)

1. alternative spelling of islang

From Old Frisian *slanga, from Proto-Germanic *slangô.

• IPA^(key): /slaŋ/

slang c (plural slangen, diminutive slankje)

1. snake

• slange

• “slang”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011