Buzz
The term belly button has referred to the navel since the late 19th century. Your nose has been called a schnozz since the 1940s and a hooter since the 1950s. The word booty traces back to the 1920s. Men have been referencing their guns since 1973 and their pecs since 1949. However, the list of slang terms for body parts doesn’t stop there. Historical slang dictionaries, such as Francis Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1788), are filled with quirky and imaginative terms for everything from unruly hair to the tiniest toe. Here are 30 examples.
1. Aggravator
In 19th-century slang, aggravators—or haggerawators, as Charles Dickens referred to them—were strands of hair that dangled over the forehead, resembling a kiss-curl or cowlick. Back then, young men often greased their aggravators to flatten them against their skin, as it was considered stylish.
2. Bowsprit
A bowsprit refers to a long pole extending from the front of a ship, used to secure sails and rigging. Due to its prominent position, the term became slang for the nose in the mid-18th century.
3. Brainpan
The brainpan or braincase is another term for the skull. Originating from Old English, this word remains in use in certain English dialects and is one of the oldest terms on this list.
4. Candle-mine
In the days when candles were crafted from tallow (rendered beef fat) instead of wax, a person’s candle-mine referred to their personal reserve of fat—essentially, their stomach.
5. Cat-sticks
In 18th-century slang, cat-sticks or trap-sticks described the thin, bony legs of a slender man. The term derives from the sticks used in tip-cat, an old game where players struck a short wooden bar, called a tip, into the air using a long, tapered pole known as a cat-stick. The goal was to hit the tip as far as possible, with the farthest strike determining the winner.
6. Clapper
Since the 17th century, clapper has been a slang term for the tongue, likening a talkative person’s tongue to the clapper inside a bell that moves rapidly back and forth.
7. Commandments
In Tudor-era English, the term ten commandments referred to a person’s 10 fingernails. Shakespeare references this in Henry VI, Part 2: “Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I could set my ten commandments on your face.”
8. Corporal
In 18th-century slang, the thumb was called the corporal, while the other four fingers were referred to as the privates.
9. Daddles
Your daddles refer to your hands, though the exact origin of the term remains unclear. The most plausible explanation ties it to the 18th-century word dadder, meaning to stagger or walk unsteadily, suggesting it originally described the trembling hands of an anxious person.
10. Dew-Beater
In 19th-century slang, dew-beaters referred to feet, evoking the image of someone brushing dew off the grass while walking. The term also described pioneers or early risers—those who ventured out or started their day ahead of others.
11. Famble
The term famble, dating back to the 14th century, originally meant to stammer or stumble over words. Likely due to confusion with fumble, it later became Tudor slang for a hand. Interestingly, a fambler was a swindler who peddled fake rings.
12. Grabbing Irons
In 18th-century naval slang, your hands were called grabbers, while your fingers were referred to as grabbing or grabbling irons.
13. Hause-Pipe
The term hause, an old Scots word for a narrow valley or mountain pass, was later used metaphorically to describe the throat or gullet. Thus, your hause-pipe refers to your windpipe.
14. Keeker
The term Keek originates from old Scots, referring to a brief look or peek, often at something one shouldn't see. Thus, a keeker not only denotes an eyeball in archaic terms but also describes someone who gazes or spies inappropriately.
15. Maconochie
Established initially as a fishmonger by James Maconochie in 1870, Maconochie Brothers evolved into a prominent food cannery in London’s East End. It played a crucial role during the First World War by supplying vast quantities of canned provisions to soldiers, leading to the term Maconochie being adopted in military jargon to refer to the stomach.
16. Maypole
In the 17th century, the term maypole was colloquially used to describe a penis, alongside various other colorful terms such as needle, rubigo, virge, tarse, runnion, and the notably vague the other thing.
17. Peerie-Winkie
The term peerie, derived from old Scottish, signifies something small or diminutive. Thus, your peerie-winkie refers to your smallest digit, whether it be a finger or a toe.
18. Phiz
Phiz serves as a shorthand for fizzog or physog, all of which are 18th-century contractions of physiognomy, a word used to describe someone’s facial characteristics or overall look.
19. Prat
In the 16th century, prat referred to either a buttock or the hip’s side. This term is also the root of pratfall, originally a theatrical term for a backward tumble onto one’s rear. Additionally, a prat-frisker or prat-digger was a pickpocket adept at targeting back pockets.
20. Prayer-Bones
Given the historical practice of kneeling during prayer, the term prayer-bones has been used since the mid-1800s to describe one’s kneecaps.
21. Pudding-House
As the destination for pudding, the pudding-house naturally refers to the stomach. This term likely extended to the abdomen or torso in general, as evidenced by the late-19th-century British slang phrase “in the pudding club,” used to describe pregnancy.
22. Rattletrap
Since the 18th century, trap has been a colloquial term for the mouth. Rattletrap is one of many playful variations, including potato-trap, kissing-trap, jaw-trap, gingerbread-trap, and gin-trap.
23. Salt-Cellar
In 19th-century slang, the small depression at the base of the neck, especially noticeable in young women, was humorously called the salt-cellar, drawing a comparison to the small bowls used for salt in kitchens. Anatomically, this area is known as the suprasternal notch.
24. Spectacles-Seat
In Victorian-era slang, the bridge of the nose was humorously referred to as the spectacles-seat, as it’s the spot where glasses typically rest.
25. Three-Quarters
In late 18th-century criminal slang, the term three-quarters was used to describe the neck, originating from the phrase “three-quarters of a peck,” an old measurement of volume.
26. Trillibubs
Trillibubs, also known as trolly-bags, refers to the guts or intestines. Initially used by butchers in the phrase tripes and trillibubs during the early 16th century, it later became slang for a person’s stomach or a swollen belly by the mid-1700s.
27. Twopenny
The term twopenny is an abbreviation of twopenny loaf, which itself stems from loaf of bread—a rhyming slang term for “head” that has been in use since the early 19th century.
28. Underpinnings
Literally referring to the materials or supports that hold up a structure, such as a building’s foundation, underpinnings became a slang term for legs in the early 1800s.
29. Victualling Office
The victualling office, originally the naval department tasked with distributing food and supplies to ship crews before voyages, became a slang term for the stomach or abdomen by the mid-18th century.
30. Welsh Comb
The term Welsh comb humorously refers to one’s thumb and fingers. Coined by 18th-century Londoners, it mocked the stereotype that a Welshman would use his hand instead of a proper comb to groom his hair.
This post first ran in 2014.
