7/30/2019 American Words by decade of entry
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Examples
1770s fraternity (student society), mockingbird, pesky,
Santa
Claus
1780s darn (exclamation), powwow (to discuss), renege (to go
back on a promise), squatter
1790s battleship, cavort, coleslaw, politically correct, seep
(to
trickle), washboard
1800scahoot (in cahoots with), campaign (n, politics),
cocktail,
graduate (v), great (like splendid), hike, peanut, political
correctness, proofreader, spat (argument), squat(v), stump
(v),
stomp (to stamp)
1810s feel bad (about a situation, etc), bureau (chest of
drawers),
boost, cuss (to curse), gerrymander, keno (lotto game),
strike
(protest), suspender (brace), swell (adj), to do the trick,
walkway,
yank (sudden pull)
1820s bakery (shop/kitchen), cup cake, enthuse, flurry
(snow),
grocery (shop), keel over, lummox, mail (v), mosey, pucker
up,
resize, run (as a candidate), sniffles, splurge, tenderloin
1830s amigo, antsy, aplenty, baby (slang, girlfriend), back
up
(reverse), bartender, bat (v, bat an eyelid), big mouth,
bobsleigh,
bright and early, busted (adj), cafeteria, chipper, creative
writing,
cute (attractive), daily (newspaper), discombobulate,
downtown,
Jack-o-lantern, know-how, lynch (v), memorize, middle name, OK,
pants (trousers), poker,
popcorn, pretzel, rip-roaring
1840s bedspread, bonanza, caboodle, fess (later fess up 1930),
flunk (v, fail), goatee, guy
(a fellow), mean (unkind), next thing one knows/remembers, park
(v, a car), scallywag, shoo,
shyster, smidgen, wallet (purse), watch out (v),
1850s baking powder, bandwagon, billboard, blizzard, booze,
buddy, cherry tomato,
employee, get hitched (married), lager, mixologist, poppycock,
railroad (v), shenanigan,
show-business, stag-party, thesaurus, vigilante
1860s ass (buttocks), bouncer, pass the buck, bum (tramp),
classified (advert), commuter,
concourse, double-decker, hunky-dory, merry-go-round, noughts
and crosses, playschool,
rapist, big-shot, tycoon
1870s boom (finance, etc), burglarize, cash register, dump,
hogwash (nonsense), hot
under the collar, mull (v, consider), national park, pushy,
sleuth (detective), vacation
(holiday)
1880s bank on (v, rely on), commute (v, travel), delicatessen,
flashlight, hamburger,
highbrow (adj), hobo, hog (monopolize), milkshake, nauseous,
nifty (adj, clever), respondent
Decade New entries
1770 191
1780 270
1790 260
1800 330
1810 346
1820 545
1830 972
1840 1144
1850 1184
1860 1016
1870 1022
1880 1618
1890 1358
1900 1228
1910 1123
1920 1503
1930 1517
1940 1401
1950 1123
1960 1405
1970 1232
1980 809
1990 222
Total 21628
7/30/2019 American Words by decade of entry
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(survey), sidetrack, size-up, slate (v, plan), slump, spike (v,
a drink), sugar (exclamation),
swear word, terminal (transport), tuxedo, underdog, winery
1890s battleaxe (domineering woman), billfold, buggy (pram),
cereal (breakfast), cold feet,
feisty, freak (n, odd person), fudge (sweet), gangster,
hell-bent, hooligan, hot dog, jumbo,
lifeguard, phoney, pipe dream, ready to wear, rubberneck,
ruckus, schmooze, seed (v,tennis, etc), in shape (good condition),
cheapskate, skyrocket (v), sneaker, subway (railway),
summer camp, sundae, volleyball, woozy
1900s beef (n, grievance), butt in, Easter Bunny, eatery,
escalator, franchise, hangover,
hip (adj), jigsaw puzzle, joyride, landfill, mutt (dog),
newsflash, optometrist, outage, phoney,
pooch, preppy (adj, n), short-change, socialite, tip-off,
underpass
1910s blurb, cash and carry, chain store, cool, faggot (slang,
gay male), fender, free
range, hometown, jazz, jinx, joy-ride, kitchenette, klaxon,
merchandising (v, promotion),
moron, payphone, psycho (n, psychopath), queer (homosexual),
radio, realtor, stooge,
washcloth, whizz (n, skilful person), wino
1920s AWOL, band-aid, belly-up, bimbo, cilantro, cotton candy,
fanny (backside), gold-
digger, greasy spoon, headcount, hijack, hitch-hike, indie
(adj), junkie (drug user), macho
(adj), malarkey, mixer (drink), motel, plus-size, popsicle,
pound sign (#), pre-teen, rotisserie,
runway (aviation), slapstick, T-shirt
1930s babysitter, burger, burp, carport, dumpster, groovy
(good), nookie, parking meter,
pizzazz, sleepover, smooch, soap opera, straw poll, supermarket,
teaser, tie-in, torch (v, to
set fire too), czar (n, government adviser), wacky (odd)
1940s acronym, bad mouth (v), boxer shorts, bug (v, annoy),
cheesy (adj), dairy (n, milk-based food), disc-jockey, fanzine, gay
(homosexual), hipster, honcho, jalapeo, Laundromat,
nacho, passive-aggressive, pissed (angry), radar, retrofit,
slumber party, teenager, update,
zillion
1950s aerospace, ballsy, boho, brainwashing, fast food, funk,
funky, gimmick, hippie,
moonlighting, nerd, nitpick (v, to criticize), showboat, shower
stall, spandex, stir-fry, stoned
(adj, intoxicated), submarine sandwich, sweat pants,
teleprompter, test-drive, think tank
(research institute), travelator, UFO, upcoming (adj,
forthcoming), wheels (n, car)
1960s advertorial, barf, blowjob, boner, breakout (adj,
unexpectedly successful), designer
(made by a famous designer), diet (low-sugar), downplay (v),
drop-dead (adj, gorgeous,etc.), fine-tune (v), garage sale, human
resources, hunk, klutz, knock-off (n/adj, imitation
goods), rehab, repo man, rip-off, shitload, sitcom, theme park,
trivia (n, knowledge), urban
legend, victimless (crime), whiz-kid
1970s automatic teller machine/atm, awesome (adj, excellent),
brain-dead, channel hop,
chill (v, relax), closure, couch potato, detox, dork, downside,
dude (familiar form of address),
feel-good, food court, gift wrap, gnarly, grunge (music),
hardcore, junk food, no-brainer, PIN
(personal identification number), pump iron (v, to lift
weights), retail park, romcom, smoothie
(drink), spoiler (plot revelation), streak (v, run naked), wuss
(n)
1980s air guitar, bad hair day, beer goggles, chill (v, to hang
out), Ecstasy (drug), hatecrime, high five, infomercial, lap dance,
get a life, meltdown (n, disaster), mono-brow, mosh,
