Common English Slang Words Explained (With Meanings & Example Sentences)

Gobsmacked. Nick. Bonkers. If you don’t know what these words mean, then you need to watch this video. In today’s English lesson, I am going to teach you 15 different slang words in English. Slang words are words in English which are very informal and should not be used in formal written English or in formal situations like when you are at work.

For each of these 15 words, I will show you the correct pronunciation, the meaning and an example sentence. Using these slang words yourself will help you to sound more like a native English speaker. So if you’re ready to improve your English vocabulary, let’s get started.

Word #1

The first phrase is ‘lose the plot’. ‘Lose’ means when you don’t know where something is, right? ‘Plot’ can have several different meanings. One of the main meanings is the story of a book or of a movie. So if someone loses the plot, what do you think that means? ‘Lose the plot’ means not acting normally or acting in a very crazy or confused way. Let’s pretend one night you go out with your friend and you have a few alcoholic drinks together. He gets really drunk and does some weird and crazy things. You can say ‘Last night, my friend lost the plot.’

Word #2

The second slang word is ‘gobsmacked’. Gobsmacked. ‘Gob’ is also another slang word which means your mouth. And ‘smacked’ means to hit something or someone normally with your hand. So what do you think ‘gobsmacked’ means? ‘Gobsmacked’ is an adjective which means very surprised. We use this word when you are so surprised something happens that you can’t believe that it happened. An example sentence could be ‘He was gobsmacked after his sister walked in because he hadn’t seen her for 10 years.’

Word #3

The third slang word is ‘nick’. Nick. When ‘nick’ is not used as a slang word, it means a small cut in something. For example, the wall has a few nicks in it. Or he nicked his hand with the scissors. But when we use ‘nick’ as a slang word, it means to steal something. An example sentence could be ‘He nicked my bike.’ This means he took my bike without asking permission. Another example could be ‘Who nicked my book? I left it right here.’

Word #4

The next word is ‘bonkers’. ‘Bonkers’ is a slang word that’s normally used in British English and it means very crazy. So if someone has gone bonkers, that means they have gone crazy. They are acting in a crazy and an unusual way. An example sentence could be ‘You are bonkers to try that. It’s too dangerous.’ You can also use this word to say that someone really likes something. For example, ‘She’s bonkers about Justin Bieber.’ This means she really really really likes Justin Bieber.

Word #5

The next slang word is ‘fiver’. If I said this word was about money, what would you say the meaning of ‘fiver’ is? A fiver is a British English slang word which means five pounds. For example, ‘This book only cost me a fiver.’ This means the book cost me five pounds. In some places, you can use the word ‘fiver’ to mean five dollars. For example, if I say ‘Can I borrow two fivers’, that means ‘Can I borrow two five-dollar notes?’ We can also use the word ‘tenner’ to mean 10 pounds or 10 dollars. But we don’t say ‘a twentier’ or ‘a fiftier’ or ‘a hundreder’. This is incorrect. We only say ‘fiver’ and ‘tenner’.

Word #6

The next slang word is ‘gutted’. Gut is the long thing inside your body where food moves when it’s being digested or being processed for nutrients, right? So what do you think it means if someone is gutted? ‘Gutted’ is a word which is normally used in British slang and it means very unhappy or very disappointed. For example, let’s pretend your friend went for an interview for a job. After the interview he is really excited and really cannot wait to start the job. But then the interviewer rings him up and says that he didn’t pass the interview and he didn’t get the job. You could say ‘My friend is gutted.’ That means he’s really unhappy and he’s really disappointed.

Word #7

Number seven. Cracking. ‘Crack’ can mean when you break something, right? For example, if I say ‘The wall is cracked’, this is what that means. But when we use ‘cracking’ as a slang word, it means very good. For example, let’s pretend you like watching soccer and your favourite player scores a really good goal. You can’t believe how good the goal was and can’t believe that it happened. You could say ‘He scored a cracking goal.’ This means he scored a really good goal.

Word #8

The next slang phrase is ‘to bail’. ‘Bail’ normally means an amount of money that you pay a court to let somebody out of jail before that person goes to court for a trial. But when we use ‘bail’ as a slang word, it can mean to leave a place or to stop doing something before that thing is finished. For example, let’s pretend you went to a party last night and you left at 11pm because the party was really boring. You could say ‘Last night I bailed at 11pm because the party was super boring.’

Word #9

The next word is ‘dodgy’. ‘Dodgy’ is an adjective which means not honest. We normally use ‘dodgy’ to talk about someone who is doing the wrong thing or someone who looks they are the kind of person who would do the wrong thing. For example, if you see someone who looks like they are going to do bad things or they are doing bad things, you can say ‘That person looks really dodgy.’ We can also use this word to talk about something that is very unreliable, like a car. For example, let’s pretend you have a car and it always breaks down. It always has problems. You can say ‘My car is really dodgy. It always breaks down.’

Word #10

The next phrase is ‘to have a blast’. ‘Blast’ normally means a very loud sound which comes from an explosion. So if someone has a blast at a place, do you think they had a good time at that place or a bad time? They had a really good time. ‘Have a blast’ means to have a really good time doing something or have a really good time at a place. For example, let’s pretend you went to this theme park last weekend and you had a lot of fun. You could say ‘I had a blast at the theme park last weekend.’

Word #11

The next slang word is ‘buck’. ‘Buck’ is a slang word which means a dollar. So if you say ‘Can I have a buck’, that means ‘Can I have a dollar?’ You can also use the word ‘buck’ to talk about more than one dollar. For example, you could say ‘The drink cost me three bucks.’ This means the drink cost you three dollars. This word is normally used in Australia and in the United States of America.

If you are in England and you are talking about pounds, you can use the word ‘quid’. ‘Quid’ is a slang word which means a pound. So if you say ‘Could you give me a quid’, that means ‘Could you give me a pound?’ Could you give me one pound? We can also use ‘quid’ to talk about more than one pound. For example, ‘Could I borrow 20 quid?’ This means ‘Could I borrow 20 pounds?’ Please note that when we use ‘quid’ with a plural number, we do not add S. For example, we do not say ’20 quids’. No. We do not say ’30 quids’. No. If you use ‘quid’ with a plural number, we do not add S.

Word #12

The next slang word is ‘rip-off’. ‘Rip-off’ means something is a lot more expensive than it should be. For example, let’s pretend you buy a computer for $1,000 but then later you find out that the computer is only worth $500. You could say ‘The computer was a rip-off.’ You can also use ‘rip off’ as a verb. For example, ‘I got ripped off.’ That means you paid too much for what you bought.

Word #13

The next slang phrase is ‘screw up’. What you see on the screen right now is a screw and up is up, right? It’s the opposite of down. So what do you think ‘screw up’ means? ‘Screw up’ means to do something very badly. For example, let’s pretend you take an English test which has 50 questions and you only get two questions right. You could say ‘I screwed up on the English test.’ Or you could say ‘I screwed up the English test.’ That means you did really badly on the test.

‘Screw-up’ can also be used as a noun. For example, let’s pretend you book a hotel and the hotel loses your reservation. You could say ‘There’s been a screw-up with the reservation which we made.’

Word #14

The next slang word is ‘loaded’. ‘Load’ can mean the amount of something that you are carrying. For example, if you’re carrying a heavy backpack, you could say ‘I’ve got a heavy load.’ So what do you think ‘loaded’ means? Well, ‘loaded’ can be used as an adjective which means someone who is very rich. Someone who has a lot of money. For example, you could say ‘He has three businesses so he must be loaded.’ This means we think he is very rich and has a lot of money.

Word #15

The next slang word is ‘cuppa’. ‘Cuppa’ is short for ‘cup of tea’. When native speakers say ‘cup of tea’ really quickly, they just say ‘cuppa’ because it’s easier and it’s quicker. For example, you could say ‘Could I have a cuppa, please?’ This means ‘Could I have a cup of tea, please?’