5 words you might not know were first used the year you were born and beyond

Curious about which words were first recorded in English the year you were born?

There's a tool that can help you find out.

The Merriam-Webster Time Traveler records which words were first used in print all the way until before the 12^th century. Explore the webpage to see which words came into print the year you were born – and the findings might surprise you.

Some words might evoke nostalgia or remind you of different zeitgeist eras, others might make you laugh. Here's a shortened selection of words that were first recorded in English from 1960 through 2022. Click here to view the full Time Traveler tool.

1960

• Acid reflux
• Bossa nova
• Fast-food
• Poo
• Theme park

1961

• Black Friday
• Computer science
• Conspiracy theorist
• Fettucine Alfredo
• Gaslighting

1962

• Belgian waffle
• Coffee table
• Miniskirt
• Red-flag
• Salsa

1963

• Baby boomer
• Deadass
• Neuroscience
• Sexism
• Yay

1964

• Colorism
• Gentrification
• Homophobia
• Pantsuit
• Quinceañera

1965

• Biohazard
• Domino theory
• Maltipoo
• Stagflation
• Xerox

1966

• Art deco
• Gochujang
• Noise pollution
• Red Guard
• Yuck

1967

• Dirtbag
• Ego trip
• Paramedic
• Rip off
• Slo-mo

1968

• Butt naked
• Fanfic
• Jazz-rock
• Reggae
• Ziplock

1969

• Afrobeat
• Bollywood
• DUI
• Point guard
• String bikini

1970

• Agent Orange
• Bad hair day
• Control freak
• Love handles
• Skate park

1971

• Camerawoman
• Dashcam
• Open marriage
• Username
• Wild card

1972

• Beer pong
• Cash cow
• Floppy disk
• Latina
• Playlist

1973

• Fact-check
• Hot tub
• Sea monkey
• Oobleck
• Pro-choice

1974

• CT scan
• Life support
• Transgender
• Touch screen
• Wimp out

1975

• Brainiac
• Fast fashion
• Greenhouse gas
• Playdate
• Smashburger

1976

• Ableism
• Digital camera
• Meme
• Pooper-scooper
• Wannabe

1977

• Buzz cut
• Gamer
• Karaoke
• Shopaholic
• Strip mall

1978

• BFF
• Eye candy
• Improv
• Stockholm syndrome
• Pad thai

1979

• Breakout session
• Email
• Hip-hop
• Lip-lock
• Pepper spray

1980

• Air guitar
• Baby bump
• Chill out
• Fugly
• One-trick pony

1981

• App
• Boom box
• Elbow bump
• Party monster
• Warm fuzzies

1982

• Baby fever
• Gaydar
• Impostor syndrome
• Tiramisu
• Valley girl

1983

• Bae
• Cell phone
• Green screen
• Screenshot
• Zip tie

1984

• Down bad
• Geeked
• Laptop
• Netizen
• Sriracha

1985

• Air fryer
• Anime
• Boy band
• Cool beans
• Intifada

1986

• Chat room
• Cringey
• Glasnost
• Internet
• Jump scare

1987

• Down
• Generation X
• GIF
• Paintball
• Virtual reality

1988

• Emo
• F-bomb
• Mad cow disease
• Mosh pit
• Stress ball

1989

• Bubble butt
• Caffeinate
• Cybersecurity
• Intersectionality
• Juneteenth National Independence Day

1990

• Hand gel
• LARP
• McMansion
• Shout-out
• Twentysomething

1991

• Arnold Palmer
• Bestie
• Cybercrime
• Granny panties
• NPC

1992

• Buzzkill
• Gen X
• Man cave
• MILF
• Photoshop

1993

• Cosplay
• Fashionista
• Gender-fluid
• Generation Z
• Website

1994

• Bootylicious
• Cyber warfare
• Friend zone
• Upcycle
• Wifebeater

1995

• Bridezilla
• Jorts
• Mom jeans
• Noob
• Slacktivism

1996

• Face-palm
• GOAT
• Live streaming
• Phishing
• Smartphone

1997

• Auto-tune
• Bokey
• Emoji
• Friends with benefits
• Judgy

1998

• Amirite
• Cyberbullying
• Dark web
• Neurodiversity
• Social networking

1999

• Blogger
• Carbon footprint
• Clickbait
• Incel
• K-pop

2000

• FaceTime
• Faux-hawk
• Geocaching
• Google (verb)
• Speed dating

2001

• Anti-vaxxer
• Bromance
• Forever chemical
• Captcha
• Twerking

2002

• Beast mode
• Nip slip
• Selfie
• TL;DR
• Vlog

2003

• Binge-watch
• Dad bod
• Flash mob
• Net neutrality
• Social distancing

2004

• Chonky
• FOMO
• Paywall
• Podcast
• Social media

2005

• Butt-dial
• Glamping
• Rage quit
• Truther
• Upvote

2006

• Bucket list
• Bussin’
• Smishing
• Totes
• YouTuber

2007

• DM
• Epic fail
• Friendsgiving
• Retweet
• Yeet

2008

• Adorbs
• Bitcoin
• Mansplain
• Me Too
• Unfollow

2009

• Alt-right
• Body-shame
• Cryptocurrency
• Jegging
• Vaccine passport

2010

• 5G
• Arab Spring
• Galentine’s Day
• Instagram

2011

• ASMR
• Blockchain
• Thirst trap
• Wokeness

2012

• Escape room
• Ghost gun
• Generative AI
• Hot take

2013

• Adulting
• Bingeable
• Finsta
• Virtue signaling

2014

• Black Lives Matter
• Manspreading
• On fleek
• Zoom

2015

• Blackfishing
• Ghost kitchen

2016

• Cancel culture
• Girlboss

2017

• GOATED
• NFT
• Zoomer

2018

• Deepfake

2019

• Large language model
• Meme stock

2020

• COVID-19
• Doomscroll
• Maskne
• Physically distance

2021

• Delta variant
• Omicron variant
• Rizz

2022

• Spongy moth
• Quit quitter