Even if you spend your days binge-watching Doctor Who while drinking tea and keeping an eye on the events unfolding in the royal family, there is one thing you will need some (a lot of) time to make sense of, and that is British slang. While slang in any country is usually quite different from the common language, British sayings will literally have you scratching your head trying to discern their meaning, and wishing someone actually took the trouble and wrote a British slang dictionary.
Every time you try to make sense of British expressions, remember that the Brits are well known for their dry sense of humor, and it often shows in their speech. Another thing to keep in mind is that slang in London will be different from slang in Manchester or Edinburgh, so don’t get too confused. At least try not to.
To help you out a little bit, we collected some of the most common British phrases that have people raise their eyebrows when they hear them. Which ones do you find the most hilarious or confusing? Vote for them, and if you know any other British words and expressions used in colloquial speech, make sure to explain them in the comments.
This post may include affiliate links.
Gobsmacked
Meaning: you’re so shocked, you don’t even know how to react.
Bonkers
Meaning: a synonym for “crazy.” It is usually used when you find something mind-blowing.
Knackered
Meaning: tired to the point where you can’t be bothered by or interested in anything around you.
Daft
Meaning: meaning “silly” or “stupid,” it is not too much of an insult.
Prat
Meaning: keep this one for that one person you really don’t like. A prat is someone very full of themself who, in reality, is rather stupid.
Bender
Meaning: a long period of excessive drinking.
Lost the plot
Meaning: according to the Brits, if you become very angry or irrational, to the point where you begin acting ridiculously, you’ve lost the plot.
Or just acting crazy, not necessarily angry. This is so self explanatory I didn't even realise it was considered slang and thought it was common in the English speaking world.
Chuffed
Meaning: if you describe yourself as chuffed, you’re happy or delighted.
Mate
Meaning: normally means “friend,” but listen to the tone, it can very well be used sarcastically.
Mug
Meaning: this is what Londoners call people who they think to be stupid.
Not quite. There is more to it than that but it's hard to explain. Whilst quite versatile it predominately means deceive/scam. For example, if you let someone take advantage of you, 'you're a mug'. If someone is trying to short-change me on a deal, they are 'mugging me off'. It also means 'face' as in Mug-shot.
Muppet
Meaning: used to insult a person who is clueless, ignorant, and generally not very bright.
Numpty means the same thing-muppet and numpty are more gently mocking rather than being out and out offensive like d*ckhead or f*ckwit
Bloke
Meaning: a man of any age. Usually used the same way Americans use “dude.”
NOT used the same way as "Dude"!!! You don't say 'Hey, bloke' to someone! It's used in an absent tense, 'So this bloke comes up to me...', 'I heard 2 blokes (men) done over (robbed) the bookies (betting shop) on the high street'
Trollied, Plastered
Meaning: if you’re either trollied or plastered, it means you’ve had too much alcohol.
Can’t be arsed
Meaning: you can’t be bothered about something, and you’re saying it in a not very polite way.
Chav
Meaning: describes a young hooligan who lives to make trouble.
It's 'spide' in Northern Ireland, because they frequently have a spiders Web tattoo on their neck. The female version is "Millie"
Gutted
Meaning: severely disappointed about something.
I'd only call it slang because it does seem to be a British thing, but it's just an adjective when you actually think of the meaning. Empty inside.
Loo
Meaning: one of the most common words to denote a toilet.
Throwing a wobbly
Meaning: you’re an adult, you’re having a tantrum, and honestly, you should know better.
To nick
Meaning: if you nicked it, you stole it.
Bloody
Meaning: you can place “bloody” in front of any other word to emphasize it.
Some people consider it a swear word, but most people aren't bothered by it. After all, we've all thought the traffic was bloody awful at some point.
Fiver
Meaning: just a five-pound note.
A Quid = £1. A Fiver (or 'A lady' in London) = £5. A Tenner £10. A Score = £20. A Pony = £25. A Monkey = £500. A Grand = £1000. But if your spending more than a Monkey, you're probably paying through the nose, 'cos it costs an arm and a leg!
Cheeky
Meaning: not referring to the volume of one’s cheeks, this word means that you’re slightly disrespectful but somehow manage to be charming at it.
The entry for 'cheeky' in Merriam Webster (an American dictionary) is "boldly rude, impudent, or disrespectful in usually a playful or appealing way". This is essentially as the definition above. That's standard use, not slang. However, there is a slang version of 'cheeky'. An example, "Let's for for a cheeky Nandos." The meaning is 'We shouldn't really go the fast food restaurant, but let's do it anyway. We'll have fun."
Faffing around
Meaning: imagine doing nothing productive or useful, or taking too long to do something relatively simple and uncomplicated. That’s faffing around.
Cheers
Meaning: it’s used to thank somebody, but sometimes, though not necessarily, it may be sarcastic.
Bevvy
Meaning: short for “beverages,” mostly alcohol, and more often beer than any other.
And if someone says "do you fancy a wee bevvy?", it usually means a heavy drinking session.
Buzzin’
Meaning: this could go two ways, if you’re buzzin’, you are either slightly drunk or very excited about something.
Kerfuffle
Meaning: a fuss, a loud disagreement, or some minor (but probably loud) trouble.
“I saw a dog and cat get into quite a kerfuffle last night,” is a phrase you will hear on the streets of London literally every day.
Minging
Meaning: if you say “eww” when you look at something, you find it minging, or disgusting.
Skiver
Meaning: someone who plays sick to avoid going to work or school. The action is called “skiving off.”
Tosh
Meaning: nonsense or rubbish, especially when coming out of someone’s mouth.
Pull a blinder
Meaning: your goal was rather difficult, but you achieved it faultlessly and skillfully.
Brolly
Meaning: with the British weather, an umbrella is somewhat of a daily necessity and requires its own slang term.
Chinwag
Meaning: sounds mysterious, but in fact, it means having a conversation, talking to another person.
To leg it
Meaning: legs are used for running, and that’s exactly what this word means, especially when you run away from trouble.
Bog
Meaning: could mean a marsh or a swamp, but in slang, it is another word for toilet.
To crack on
Meaning: to get started or to get back to your business. You better crack on with reading, if you want to get to the end of this list.
Usually to get back to, not start but both work in my opinion
Blimey
Meaning: an exclamation to express your surprise or astonishment.
Cock-up
Meaning: stop going in that direction! This expression simply means a mistake or a failure.
Great as a verb: "he's cocked that RIGHT up" See also balls-up/ ballsed up and tits up.
Innit
Meaning: if you master saying this expression, you’ll instantly pass off for a Brit. A shortened form of “isn’t it?”, this expression is used left, right, and center.
and if you don’t master saying it, you will sound like a tryhard American and Brits will sigh at you
Cracking
Meaning: something exceptionally good. Can be a person, can be tea.
In Ireland, we've got "craic" (pronounced crack). "The craic was 90!" means that you had a great time at an event, you really enjoyed it and had fun.
Ledge
Meaning: not that the word “legend” is too long or difficult to pronounce, but “ledge” is its abbreviation. The tone can vary from genuine to ironic or joking.
Dog’s dinner
Meaning: can mean a mess or a failure.
Usually used to insult women .. 'she's dressed up like a dog's dinner'
Full of beans
Meaning: we all have that one friend who is ready for action at any given moment. Feel free to call them full of beans, meaning energetic or enthusiastic.
I hear this one in Canada a lot. A bunch of these terms seem like they have been adopted elsewhere. Interesting.
Lad
Meaning: used to refer to a younger man or boy.
The British newspapers used to complain about "ladettes" These were young women who exhibited more stereotypically male behaviour, going out at the weekend and getting bladdered (excessively drunk), being loud and aggressive, starting fights, swearing a lot. Very unladylike behaviour, so the papers did a lot of tut-tutting about it.
To sack off
Meaning: to avoid doing something or to give up on something you didn’t really want to do to begin with.
Bruv
Meaning: just the British version of “bro.”
Oojah
Meaning: stands in the same line as doohickeys and whatchamacallits as a thing you know the name of but can’t remember right now.
Barmy
Meaning: if you find something to be crazy, eccentric, or foolish, you can call it barmy.
A group of fans who follow the English cricket team around the world call themselves the Barmy Army
Bants
Meaning: short form of “banter”, i.e., friendly mocking and teasing remarks.
Boot
Meaning: the back of your car where the luggage goes, or “trunk” in the US.
Dim
Meaning: not particularly bright, not knowing common things.
I assume this is affectionate and you can call someone dim right to their face and they will love it.
Tenner
Meaning: it’s a ten-pound note, nothing to do with the Tenth Doctor.
Thanks to shows like Minder being shown in Oz I learned about other ones like pony, monkey and score
Bog roll
Meaning: think of a roll you’d need in a bog. That’s right, it’s toilet paper.
Fit
Meaning: Any attractive person.
Used as an adjective, not a noun. So it would be "a fit bloke" or "she's fit".
Banter
Meaning: joking or teasing someone, often in a friendly way without meaning any harm.
Anorak
Meaning: a geek with a strong interest in a particular, usually not mainstream, area.
Never ever heard "anorak" used in this way. An Anorak is a type of coat.
Doddle
Meaning: an easy, simple task.
Dodgy
Meaning: things and/or people that can’t be trusted, look/taste/smell suspicious, or are just questionable in their validity are dodgy.
Slag off
Meaning: calling a person names, making fun of them through verbal attack.
If you refer to a woman as a slag, you're saying she is too free with her sexual favours and has had a lot of partners. It's not a friendly word to use.
Sod
Meaning: acts as a replacement in expressions similar to “You lucky devil [sod]!” or “You clever thing [sod]!”
Proper
Meaning: a substitute for “very” or “extremely,” as in “proper good.”
Peng
Meaning: attractive or appealing. Normally used to describe people, but on occasion can be applied to things as well.
Codswallop
Meaning: a British version of BS. Something untrue, frequently made up to make a dramatic impression.
Grafting
Meaning: in Scotland, this is a term close to flirting, referring to a guy trying to make a girl like him.
I'm Scottish and use the word graft to refer to work, never in the context above.
Pants
Meaning: this seemingly simple word can mean at least two things in the UK that you wouldn’t have thought of. Number one, it refers to underwear. Number two, it’s used in an exclamation to show that something’s bad.
Number 3, it can also refer to ones trousers, depending on where you're from.
Bev
Meaning: for whatever reason, this means “a handsome man.”
Antwacky
Meaning: you know people who look, talk, and act like they came out of the 1930s? They are antwacky.
Botch job
Meaning: a repair job that was done hurriedly and without much care, and will probably crumble in your hands soon.
Git
Meaning: chavs also have their term for a man they find to be unpleasant or incompetent.
What? A git is someone who is an absolute bloody t****r ... there you go enjoy :d
Pied off
Meaning: you’ve been rejected or shot down.
Melt
Meaning: coming from the reality TV show Love Island, it denotes someone who is a coward.
Damp squib
Meaning: a squib is a small firework, which, when damp, can’t explode, and thus disappoints you. In the same line of logic, a damp squib is something that was supposed to impress but failed to do so.
The phrase "taking the p!$$" confused me until I learned that it means something akin to "You're messing with me'...I think.
Yes. Your having a laugh, making a joke of it, messing with me to see how gullible I am.
Load More Replies... The phrase "taking the p!$$" confused me until I learned that it means something akin to "You're messing with me'...I think.
Yes. Your having a laugh, making a joke of it, messing with me to see how gullible I am.
Load More Replies...