American Slang For Cigarette (Helpful Content!)

The most common American slang terms for cigarette are “smoke” or “butt”. A cigaratte is also sometimes called a “stoge” in American slang. In rarer cases, a cigarette may also be referred to as a “cowboy killer”. Other general terms for cigarette may include a “cancer stick” or a “death stick”.

Cigarettes are clearly here to stay for the time being, though we now know more than ever about their negative effects.

Slang terms for cigarettes are, for the most part, terms that have been in use for a long time, but at the same time there are also new ones arising from time to time.

Let’s find out more.

What do Americans call cigarettes?

Americans have a variety of names for cigarettes, and it’s worth pointing out that a lot of Americans will simply use the word “cigarette” over any actual slang term.

Many, whether smokers or non-smokers, will not use slang terms for cigarettes and will simply refer to them by their proper name.

This is true up and down the country, though of course in any place there will always be individuals who happen to refer to them by slang names.

Of the slang terms used for cigarettes in America, without a doubt the most common is “smoke”.

This is a simple slang term you’ll hear just about everywhere in the country, from the east coast to the west coast, and among both the young and old generations.

It has been the single most common slang term for a cigarette for more or less as long as cigarettes have been smoked.

“Do you have a smoke?” for example.

Another common but more regionally specific slang term for cigarette in America is “butt”.

Obviously, virtually everyone refers to the end of a cigarette as a “butt”, but in some parts of the U.S. this is also just the common slang term for cigarettes as a whole.

This is mostly restricted to New England, but across America a used cigarette is referred to as a butt.

Another less common but still widely used slang term for cigarettes in America is “stoge”.

This is similar to a common term for cigars, “stogie”.

This one is not the most common and you’re less likely to hear it used than clothes, but it is certainly used to a wide extent.

Other terms you’ll hear used for cigarettes might include the somewhat archaic “cowboy killer”, or various references to the negative effects of smoking, such as “cancer stick” or “death stick”.

Why do Americans say “smoke”?

The origin of the term “smoke” is fairly straightforward. It simply refers to the fact that you smoke cigarettes–it’s not more complicated than that!

The term was first recorded in this sense in 1882, which is not very long after cigarettes were invented.

Indeed, cigarettes were introduced to America in the early 19th Century–making them far younger than most people might expect!

The term at this also referred to opium, too, but later narrowed to only mean cigarettes.

Over the course of the 20th Century, this became the single most common slang term for cigarettes in America, and indeed even spread to other parts of the world.

Why do Americans say “butt”?

The term “butt” at first only referred to the end of a cigarette.

This is simply because “butt” is a more standard term referring to the end of something long and thin, like the “butt” of a spear or something like that.

The first time we see it attested as meaning “end of a cigarette” is in 1847.

In New England, as mentioned, this slang term expanded its meaning to encompass cigarettes as a whole, rather than just the ends of used cigarettes.

Outside of New England, you won’t really hear it used in this way.

Why do Americans say “stoge”?

 The term “stoge” as a word for cigarette ultimately derives from the term “stoagie” or “stogie” used for cigars.

Originally, this term referred to a long, thin, cheap cigar, so called because they were often smoked by the drivers of the Conestoga style of wagons.

Conestoga itself was a region in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where these wagons were invented and frequently used.

At some point, the term was shortened to a diminutive form in order to become a name for cigarettes–just as the word “cigarette” itself was intended as a diminutive form of “cigar”.

Why do Americans say “cowboy killer”?

“Cowboy killer” has a couple of potential origins.

Usually, the term specifically refers to very harsh cigarettes, the idea being that this is what tough cowboys would have smoked while out on the trail.

This is how the term is most often used, referring to a specific kind of cigarette rather than just cigarettes in general–so this is the most likely origin for the slang term.

On the other hand, some simply believe it is instead a reference to the fact that “cowboys” tended to smoke an awful lot of cigarettes, and thus they would often die of lung cancer or related illnesses.

This one is less supported by the way the term is used today, but it’s still entirely possible.

 So, there are lots of different slang terms for cigarettes in American slang.

Most of them are fairly universal, and if there was any one that you were more or less guaranteed to hear it’s “smoke”.

That said, all the other terms listed here as still very common as slang terms for cigarettes, so if you hear one of these terms then you’ll know what it means!

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