British Slang For Sailor (10 Examples!)

Sailors are perhaps not as big a part of people’s lives as they once were.

There was a time when the only way you would get from one country to another was via the sea.

Nowadays, that’s not the case, but nonetheless sailors still hold an important place in pop culture and the popular consciousness.

This is particularly true in Britain, a nation which has taken great pride in its naval history for centuries.

With that comes a lot of different slang terms for sailors, both old and new—so let’s look at a few today.

In This Article

Seadog

Starting off with one you’re probably familiar with, first we have “seadog”.

This is a very common slang term for a sailor in Britain, and has been in use for a very long time.

It might seem like a bit of a pejorative, and you’d certainly do well to be careful whom you refer to using this term.

I don’t know how often you might encounter a “sailor” in modern life, in this sense of the word, but you want to be careful with it nonetheless. “I’ve been a seadog my whole life,” for instance.

It does particularly have the sense of an old seaman who’s been sailing for a long time, as we can see in its origin.

In the 1590s, the term referred to harbour seals and later just to pirates.

It wasn’t until around 1823 that we first see the term applied to a sailor, and in particular one who has been on the sea for a long time.

Before that, it was mostly a term used to describe animals like walruses and beavers.

Jack

“Jack” is a slang term with a lot of varied meanings throughout Britain’s history.

It became a generic name applied both in a friendly or a contemptuous way to virtually anybody.

You might simply call your friend “Jack”.

Later on, and still to some extent today, the term is used to refer to sailors, though it’s certainly somewhat quaint and archaic now.

Nevertheless, it’s still widely understood in popular culture to mean a sailor.

“The bar is full of jacks from the cruiser that just docked,” for example.

It’s not exactly clear why this term came to have this meaning.

The first time it was attested in this broader sense of a familiar form of address comes from the late 14^th Century.

As a proper name it was first attested in the 13^th Century, so there may be some overlap in terms of its development as a proper name and in this more general sense.

Unfortunately, we really can’t say much more than that with any certainty.

Jack-tar

An offshoot slang term from the broader “jack” that was and still is also used as a slang term for sailors is “jacktar”.

This is another very old term but one which certainly does remain in use among some people.

A lot of slang like this tends to endure for longer precisely because it tends only to be used by a narrower portion of the population—i.e., those who are involved with or adjacent to sailing life.

“Come on then jack-tars, let’s get back out to sea,” for example.

The term was taken simply from the more well established term “jack”, which we have discussed to mean a common man or sailor, and “tar”, as in “tarpaulin”.

Tarpaulins are of course an important part of any sailing ship.

This slang term is attested by the 1600s and naturally came sometime after the broader term “jack”.

Lobscouser

Next, we have “lobscouser”, another one that is certainly very old and slightly antiquated by still broadly understood by many people in the profession.

You may be met with confusion if you use this one in general conversation with non-sailors, but as a historical oddity, the term still draws a lot of interest and has survived at least in part for this reason.

Most people will at least understand the term “scouse” to mean someone from Liverpool, and by that city’s association with sailing may make the connection.

“All my old lobscouser friends are going to be in town next week,” for example.

The term is a fairly complex one.

A “lobscouse” is a nautical term for a dish of stewed meat and vegetables, with ship’s biscuit added.

Sailors couldn’t get much beyond hardtack when they were out on the sea since it was one of few things that wouldn’t spoil during the long journeys.

This stew was particularly associated with Liverpool.

Thus, eventually, a “lobscouser” became a term for a sailor.

Matelot

“Matelot” is another slang term for a sailor in Britain and one of the more widely used and understood today.

It’s a very common slang term for a sailor, one that you’ll hear across Britain in Scotland, England, and Wales.

Again, naturally, people don’t really spend a great deal of time around sailors anymore—at least not as much as they once did.

So, a slang term for sailors is only going to be so common.

But this is certainly among the most common.

“He was a matelot in the Navy for years,” for example.

The term derives from the Middle French word matelot, which simply meant a sailor.

There are similar words in Dutch and German, respectively matroos and matrose.

So, the word probably originated in English sometime in the Middle Ages, when French was still exerting an enormous influence over the English language.

Mariner

This next one certainly skirts the line of being slang, but nonetheless remains one of the more commonly used informal terms for a sailor in British slang.

A mariner, of course, could be any number of roles on a ship, so you start to understand the term “sailor” itself has pretty broad application.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who manages or operates the sails themselves.

It could be a navigator or a ship’s cook.

“She’s going to become a mariner, she thinks,” for example.

This term is naturally very old. It is first attested in the mid-13^th Century, when it had the more specific meaning of someone who directs or assists in ship navigation.

The term was originally Anglo-French, deriving from the Old French word marinier, and ultimately from the Medieval Latin word marinarius, which meant sailor.

Squid

Next we have “squid,” a slang term that has been used in both the US and British Navy for a very long time.

This one is certainly a bit more derogatory than others on the list, and might be something that members of, say, the Air Force or the Marines used to jokingly refer to sailors in the Navy.

It’s not one that everyone will understand from context, but intuitively it makes sense and so people will likely understand the term in Britain today.

“We’ve got to debrief the squids,” for example.

The word itself is naturally quite old and refers more generally to a certain kind of marine mollusc.

This term derives from the early 17^th Century, though when it came to have the sense of sailor is not clear—this is probably quite a lot more recent.

The word itself is of unknown origin, a may have been a sailor’s variant of the word “squirt”.

We don’t know for sure.

Swab

Next we have “swab,” another common slang term for sailor which has historical roots in Britain but is still very much in use among sailors today.

A swab is generally a term for just about any sailor, though it came to be associated with certain kinds of adventuring sailors in novels and stories.

It’s certainly used today although you’re definitely a lot more likely to hear it in some parts of Britain than others—particularly Scotland.

“They’re setting out with a big crew of swabs to go find the island,” for example.

Originally, the term referred to the act of “swabbing” the decks of a ship.

This derived from the Middle English swabber, which meant the sailor who carried out that task.

This, in turn, derived from Middle Dutch. It later came more generally to mean any sailor, and was in particular popularized by Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson.

Swabby

Another form of the term “swab” is “swabby” or “swabbie”.

This term arose out of the older one, and “swab” was the term that came first.

Swabby became more of a friendly nickname for a sailor, used by both sailors and non-sailors.

“He’s a new swabby who just got into town,” for example.

When exactly this form of “swab” started being used is hard to say, though it seems to have been in only the last couple of centuries.

Tar

Finally, we have “tar”, another simple slang term for a sailor that is still used today.

This one, as you might have guessed, is very similar to “jack-tar” and might more simply be called a form of this slang term.

It again just refers to the “tarpaulin” you would have on a ship, and has been used since around the 17^th Century.

“There’s a big gang of tars in town for the weekend,” for example.

Sailors definitely have a wide range of interesting and colorful slang names in Britain, then.

They have been an important part of British life for an awfully long time, given the nation’s island status.

Language to describe them has arisen very naturally in popular vernacular, and so we are left with this wide range of slang terms that have endured in some uses throughout many decades or even centuries.

More in British Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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