1756年，“流浪者或小偷的特殊词汇”或任何低素质人群的词汇，后来指“特定职业的行话”（1801年）。“以生动性和新颖性为特征的非常非正式语言”的意义出现在1818年。
Anatoly Liberman在这里详细说明了这个词的起源，来自北英格兰名词slang“一块狭窄的土地，夹在其他较大地块之间”和动词slanger“徘徊，缓慢行走”，该动词源自斯堪的纳维亚语（比较挪威语slenge“松弛地挂着，抛掷，摇摆，垂挂”，丹麦语slænge“抛掷，甩”。“它们的共同点似乎是‘朝任意方向自由移动’” [Liberman]。这些名词衍生词（丹麦语slænget，挪威语slenget）意为“一个团伙，一个队伍”，Liberman比较了古诺尔斯语的slangi“流浪者”和slangr“迷路”（用于描述羊）。他写道：
It is not uncommon to associate the place designated for a certain group and those who live there with that group’s language. John Fielding and the early writers who knew the noun slang used the phrase slang patter, as though that patter were a kind of talk belonging to some territory.
将某个群体指定的地点与居住在那里的人及其语言联系起来并不少见。约翰·菲尔丁和早期知道名词slang的作家使用了短语slang patter，仿佛这种语言是某个区域特有的交谈方式。
因此，这个词义的演变可以从俚语“一个有限界定的领土”到“流浪者用于游荡的领土”，再到“他们的露营地”，最终到“在那里使用的语言”。这个意义的转变然后经过了流动商人：
Hawkers use a special vocabulary and a special intonation when advertising their wares (think of modern auctioneers), and many disparaging, derisive names characterize their speech; charlatan and quack are among them.
小贩在推销商品时使用特殊的词汇和特殊的语调（想想现代的拍卖师），许多贬义和嘲讽的名称特征了他们的言语；charlatan和quack就是其中之一。
Liberman总结道：
[Slang] is a dialectal word that reached London from the north and for a long time retained the traces of its low origin. The route was from "territory; turf" to "those who advertise and sell their wares on such a territory," to "the patter used in advertising the wares," and to "vulgar language" (later to “any colorful, informal way of expression”).
[Slang]是一个方言词，从北方传入伦敦，并在很长一段时间内保留了其低俗起源的痕迹。其路径是从“领土；草地”到“在此类领土上宣传和销售商品的人”，再到“宣传商品时使用的言语”，最终到“粗俗语言”（后来指“任何生动、非正式的表达方式”）。
这个词与小偷和低生活的关联在19世纪减弱。
[S]lang is a conscious offence against some conventional standard of propriety. A mere vulgarism is not slang, except when it is purposely adopted, and acquires an artificial currency, among some class of persons to whom it is not native. The other distinctive feature of slang is that it is neither part of the ordinary language, nor an attempt to supply its deficiencies. The slang word is a deliberate substitute for a word of the vernacular, just as the characters of a cipher are substitutes for the letters of the alphabet, or as a nickname is a substitute for a personal name. [Henry Bradley, from "Slang," in Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed.]
[S]lang是对某些传统礼仪标准的有意识冒犯。仅仅是粗俗的语言不是俚语，除非它是故意采用的，并且在某些不属于其母语的人群中获得了人为的流通。俚语的另一个独特特征是，它既不是普通语言的一部分，也不是试图弥补其不足的尝试。俚语词是对地方语言词的故意替代，就像密码的字符是字母表字母的替代，或昵称是个人名字的替代一样。[亨利·布拉德利，摘自《俚语》，收录于《大英百科全书》第11版]
