The slang word “smash” seems to come up a lot nowadays, but you may have heard it in different contexts to mean different things. Confused? Don’t worry because this article is going to tell you everything you need to know…
We’ll kick off by explaining its different meanings before looking into the origin of the slang, and doing a deep dive into how the meaning of the word evolved over time in different contexts. Then, we’ll round off by discussing how you might use the slang word in conversation.
So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
What’s the meaning of the slang word “smash”?
Traditionally, the word smash was used to refer to the act of violently breaking something into pieces. However, as a slang word “smash” can have multiple meanings. Let me walk you through…
Basically, what “smash” means depends on the context. One of the more common meanings is “to be very successful” in something. However, its original slang meaning was quite the opposite, and the newest meaning is something entirely different, and refers to having casual sex with someone.
In the following sections, we will attempt to explain how the meaning has changed over time.
What’s the origin of the slang word “smash”?
Smash = failure/ruin
The original meaning of the slang word “smash” dates as far back as the 1800s, when it was used to describe failure or financial ruin. In certain literary classics of the era, the word “smash” connoted a sudden, dramatic reversal, or shattering.
For example, in his book The Pickwick Papers, published in 1836, Charles Dickens uses the word “smash” in relation to debtors and ruined fortunes. Here, the word resonates with the Victorian concern over bankruptcy and disgrace.
Similarly in Mark Twain’s novel, The Gilded Age, published in 1873): the word “smash” surfaces in business contexts, often meaning a sudden collapse of plans.
Thus, the original meaning of the slang word is starkly different from the meanings it has today.
How the meaning of the slang word “smash” changed over time
Smash as in smash hits
The first twist in the tale of the developing meaning of the word “smash” came in the late 1800s. In theatre and show business, a “smash hit” denoted a roaring success. This was almost certainly influenced by the metaphor of an object “smashing through” barriers to capture attention. An early example of the word being used in this sense was in the Vaudeville posters, which were pictorial and typographic adverts that were printed on paper, and were created between the 1880s and 1930s to promote theatrical variety shows.
Then, by the 1920s, you would see film industry press releases declaring a film as a “box office smash”. Hollywood started describing blockbusters as “smash hits”. For example, publicity for The Jazz Singer, released in 1927, described it as a “smash success.” This was quite a contrast from the meaning that Dickens had attached to the word.
Alongside its use in the film and theatre industry, you also had the music industry using the term in the same way. For example, in Billboard Magazine, hit songs were regularly described as smash hits, and it wasn’t long before the term was permanently embedded in music industry lingo. And when Elvis Presley released his breakthrough single Heartbreak Hotel in 1956, the phrase “smash hit” was synonymous with music chart success. So it was no surprise that by the 1970s there was a British music magazine called Smash Hits that run to 2006.
Smash as in casual sex
Then there’s the word “smash” as per African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which emerged in the late 20th century. This was the most provocative meaning, meaning to have casual sex with someone. This slang was circulating widely by the 1990s thanks to its use in hip hop, R&B, and comedy.
For instance, 2Pac used the word smash to refer to sleeping with someone in his songs, and in stand-up comedy Chris Rock popularised the term in jokes about sex, taking the term into the mainstream.
Smash in video games and double entendre
In the year 1999 there was a Nintendo franchise called Super Smash Bros, and the double entendre was used to bring sexual innuendo into internet communities.
Smash in the 2010s internet meme era
In the 2010s there was a popular meme and game that started up called “Smash or Pass”. Shorts on the likes of YouTube and TikTok would show participants being asked if they would hypothetically have sex with a celebrity, classmate, or fictional character. This brought the sexualised meaning of the slang word “smash” into Gen Z vernacular all around the world.
Around the same time sitcoms and dramas such as How I Met Your Mother and New Girl frequently used the slang word “smash” in the sexual sense.
How people use the slang word “smash” - featuring examples
Slang is always for casual, informal use and is not appropriate in formal situations such as academic writing. That said, when “smash” is used to refer to being very successful at something, this is used very widely as encouragement or to celebrate an achievement. For example, you might tell someone “You will smash the interview!”, or “You smashed that audition!”
That said however, any slang referring to sex may come across as vulgar to some, so be careful about using it. You might want to avoid diminishing people by addressing them as sex objects, and playing along with the Smash or Pass game.
Final word
So, to sum up, the slang word “smash” has had several meanings over time, but now there are two main ones. One meaning to be very successful at something, and the other meaning to have casual sex with someone.
This is a long way from the original meaning of the slang, which meant failure and financial ruin, as was used by author Charles Dickens in the 1800s. Today, people use the term in multiple ways depending on which of the meanings applies in that context.
