Australia like most countries has its own slang and phrases that can make learning English confusing because you won’t hear the following slang and phrases in other countries that’s national language is English, so in this blog post we will cover some of Australian’s favourite expressions including the shortening of words, names for foods, people, things and most used phrases that you’ll need to know to immerse yourself in the Aussie culture.
Shortening words
Australians very commonly shorten words. Although these aren’t to be used in a formal setting, these are some of the most used slang terms and are second nature to Australians, so you will most likely hear these all the time while in Australia.
Arvo – Afternoon à “I’m going out this arvo”
Agro – Aggressive/someone is angry à “He’s so agro”
Aussie – An Australian
Aus – Australia
Avo – Avocado
Bottle-o – the bottle shop (a shop that sells alcohol)
Brekki – Breakfast
Cuppa – coffee “can I get you a cuppa?”
Servo – This is used for a service station (where you get petrol)
Stray’a – Australia
Barbie – A barbeque, you may have heard American’s say “throw a shrimp on the barbie” as a way of explaining Australian slang however Australian’s don’t call them shrimp the crustacean is called prawns in Australia and that has never been an expression used by Australians
Brolly – an umbrella
Defo/def/defs – Definitely
Devo – Devastated à “I’m so devo the game got cancelled”
Footy – Football
G’Day – a shortened word for “good day”, essentially it means hello. This is very commonly associated with Australia by countries world-wide but not that commonly used in metro areas of Australia
Kanga – Kangaroo
Kindy – Kindergarten, this is the year before the first grade of school (5–6-year old’s)
Lappy – Laptop
Lippy – Lipstick
Misso – Essentially this means Mrs, but can be used for a girlfriend, partner or wife à “How’s ya misso?”
Muso – Musician
Preggas – someone is pregnant
Prezzie – Present
Rego – Registration, car registration in particular is almost always referred to as rego in Australia
Relo – Relationship
Spose – Suppose à “I spose I can take a look at that”
Sunnies – Sunglasses
Trolly – A shopping cart
Vego – vegetarian
Ya – This means you often used in “How ya going?” (This means how are you?)
Yous – the plural of you, used similarly to when American’s say “Y’all” à “are yous coming over later”
Food
Choccy – Chocolate
Chook – Chicken, you may hear someone say à “we should get a cooked chook”
Baloney/Devon – processed pork-based sandwich meat
Cold one – a beer
Fairy Bread – A slice of bread with butter and sprinkles on top
Icy Pole – A popsicle
Lollie – candy/sweets
“Maccas” – McDonald’s (this was used so much MacDonald’s changed their brand name in Australia to Maccas)
Mushies – Mushrooms
Sanga – a sandwich
Snag – a sausage, commonly used with the above “snag sanga” is a sausage with a piece of bread folded around it
Spag-bol – Spaghetti Bolognese
Stubby – a 375ml can or bottle of beer
Tucker – any food à “I’m so excited for tucker”, derived from the aboriginal term “bush tucker” which is traditional food from the outback
Tuck Shop – The canteen/cafeteria at school
Things
Budgy Smugglers – A man’s speedo (based off a Budgerigar bird which Australian’s call a budgy)
Ciggie – A cigarette; Australians also say “rollie” for a cigarette you have rolled yourself and “durry” for a pre-rolled cigarette
Cozzie, Kini, Togs, Bathers, Swimmers – these are all terms for swimsuits
Dunny – toilet
Esky – A cooler/cold box, a portable insulated box for storing cold foods/drinks
Flicker – This is a term for a television remote (mainly used in Western Australia)
Mozzie – A mosquito
Stubby holder – a foam cylinder that insulates a “stubby” to keep it cold
Thongs – flip flops/sandals
Tinny/Tinnie – this could be referring to a can of beer or a small boat
Trackies/Track-a-dacks – sweatpants
People
Bludger – a lazy person/someone not putting in effort à “Jamie is such a bludger, he didn’t even try in the game”, similarly if someone refers to something as a bludge it means it’s easy “HPE is my bludge subject” (health and physical education this is sports in school)
Bogan – a bogan is a term for someone who is un-sophisticated, dresses a stereotypical way or someone who lives in certain areas. Often someone of a low socio-economic class.
Coppers – police officer
Grommet – a beginner surfer
Larrikin – someone who is not well behaved, similar to hooligan but used for someone who is still a good person. Mainly a jokester or someone who plays pranks
Mate – A friend
Old Mate – A way to refer to anyone without using their name à “look old mates here”
Pom/Pommie – A term for a British person
True Blue – A very Australian person; a patriotic person
Journo – A Journalist
Sheila – A woman (this is less commonly used with millennials/gen z or in metro areas)
Sook – A ‘cry-baby’, someone who can’t take a joke or gets easily upset
Tradie – A tradesman such as an electrician, plumber, builder etc.
Truckie – A truck driver
Yank – A term for an American
Phrases
“Aussie Aussie Aussie” “Oi Oi Oi” – this is mainly used as a chant at sporting games one person will yell the first part (Aussie) and the crowd will reply with the second part (oi)
“A feed” – this could be referring to any meal
Bail – If someone says “he bailed” it does not have anything to do with getting out of jail, it is referring to someone cancelling plans often last minute
Bloody oath – bloody is used a lot in Australia and can be quite confusing if you don’t live or come to Australia often, the term bloody oath just means that something is 100% true or that you are confirming you believe someone’s story, it can be used in a similar way to struth à if someone was to say something like “I saw the biggest croc when I was in the NT” you could reply here with “bloody oath”
“Choc-a-Block” or Choccers – means somewhere is packed/very busy, such as a room containing a lot of people à “I went to the restaurant, but we had to leave because it was choccers”
“Crikey” – used as an expression on its own when you are shocked, like “wow” or “oh my”
Crook – someone is sick/unwell
Dropkick – to call someone useless. This can be used as a joke between friends or to insult someone you don’t like
“Good on ya” – good job/well done
Heaps – this can be used to say you have a lot of something or as an expression, for example “that’s heaps good” means it’s very good
“How ya going?” / “How’s it going?” – this means “how are you?” this confuses a lot of non-Australians because they don’t understand that “ya” means you and going doesn’t mean you/anything is going anywhere
“Chuck a sickie” – to call in sick to work/school, this is mainly used when someone fakes being sick
“Chuck a u-ey” – make a u-turn when driving
“Fair Dinkum” – something is good
“Flat out” – very busy à “I’ve been flat out”
Gobsmacked – Shocked à “I’m honestly gobsmacked he pulled that off”
“Have a sook” – this is often used in a joking manner, but it means “go cry about it”
“How’s your old man” – This is referring to your father, it is saying “How is your father?”
“I’m knackered” – you are exhausted
“I’m spewin” – You are annoyed/angry
Pash – Kiss
“Piece of piss” – Something is easy
Pub feed – this means to go get a meal at a pub
“Rock up” – this means to show up somewhere, usually when you are unsure if someone will come somewhere or if they come uninvited à “do you think he’ll rock up?” / “he just rocked up out of the blue”
Smoko – this is a break from work to have a cigarette, mainly used by tradies and physical labourers
Squiz – If someone says “Take a squiz” this means “have a look” it would be used in a sentence like à “hey can you take a squiz and my work”
Stickybeak – a term for a nosy person
Stoked – You would use this to say you are excited à “I’m stoked for the party this weekend”
Struth à used as an expression on its own when you are shocked
“Sweet as” – This means something is cool/good
Thingo/thingy/thingamajig – this could be referring to any item you can’t think of the name for à “I’m looking for the um thingamajig”
“Tryna” – trying to à “I’m tryna find my thongs”
“Veg out” – to be lazy/ particularly to sit on the couch and relax à “I’m so tired, I’m just going to go home and veg out”
“Woop-woop” – to say something is far away or “the middle of nowhere” à “he lives in woop-woop”
Wuss – A coward à “come on don’t be a wuss”
“You reckon? /Ya reckon?”– this means do you think à “Ya reckon this will be on the test?”
Note: Australians also use a lot of insults/swear to their friends, this is not to be taken as an insult and has entirely different meaning when used with friends.
Now that we have covered Australia’s most used slang, are you ready to fit in to Australia’s culture?
