Australian slang is famous for shortening everything: afternoon becomes arvo, the service station is the servo, and McDonald’s is Maccas. Add a few old phrases like fair dinkum and good on ya, and you can follow most casual conversations. This guide explains the Australian words you’re most likely to hear, with a full entry for each.

Everyday words

• Arvo: afternoon. “See you this arvo.”
• Brekkie: breakfast.
• Heaps: lots, or very. “Thanks heaps,” “heaps good.”
• Servo: a service station.
• Bottle-o: a bottle shop, for takeaway alcohol.
• Maccas: McDonald’s.
• Mozzie: a mosquito.
• Ute: a pickup or utility vehicle.

At the beach

• Thongs: flip-flops, not underwear.
• Togs: swimwear, in Queensland at least. Other Australians say swimmers, bathers or cossie.

People

• Bloke: a man.
• Bogan: someone seen as unrefined, sometimes said with pride.

Phrases

• Fair dinkum: genuine, honest. “Fair dinkum?” means “seriously?”
• Good on ya: well done, or thanks.
• Chuck a sickie: take a fake sick day.

Feelings

• Stoked: thrilled.
• Knackered: exhausted.

Across the Tasman: New Zealand words

Kiwi English shares a lot with Australian English, but it has favorites of its own.

• Chur: thanks, cheers or awesome.
• Bach: a holiday home, usually a simple one by the beach.

Why Australians shorten everything

Australian English uses diminutives, shortened and nicknamed forms of words, more than any other variety of English. Wikipedia’s article on them counts more than 5,000 in use. The usual recipe is to cut a word down and add an ending: -o (arvo, servo, bottle-o), -ie (brekkie, mozzie, sickie) or -s (Maccas). The article on Australian English traces the -o ending to Irish.

They aren’t only slang, either. The same article notes that many are used widely across society, and some businesses have adopted them: McDonald’s Australia registered Macca’s as a trademark.

A few things to know

Not every Australian uses every word, and there are real regional differences. What you call your swimwear depends a lot on which state you grew up in, and some terms, like bogan, have local versions (bevan in Brisbane, booner in Canberra). Several of these words are shared with New Zealand English, and a few, like knackered and bloke, came from Britain.

For more, see our British slang guide, the Gen Z slang dictionary, or the full A–Z index.