Australian Slang For Thank You (Explained!)

The most common Australian slang term for thank you is “cheers”. This is universally used and understood more commonly than any other. You do also have the term “ta”, another virtually universal way to say thank you in Australia. Other than that, you have the term “nice one”.

Slang for thank you tends to remain quite simple and stripped down.

Thank you is something all of us say probably every day, so while we want to maintain the impact and genuine feeling of what we’re saying, we also want to keep it short and efficient.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What do Australians say for thank you?

Australians have a few different slang terms for thank you, though there are a couple that are by far the most common.

Perhaps the most universally used and understood in Australia is “cheers”.

This one you will hear in all corners of the country by speakers of all demographics.

It can be used for a simple way to thank a shop assistant or in any other comparable daily interaction, it could be used to thank your friend for a favor they did you—just about any degree of thanks required can be met with “cheers!”

Another very common way of saying thank you in Australia is simply to say “ta”.

This may sound a bit strange to those in the U.S., but speakers from the U.K. will definitely be familiar with it.

It’s used mostly in the north of England and Scotland, and is a simple way of saying thanks.

It has taken on its own Australian identity by this point, too, and is perhaps the second most common slang way of saying thank you in Australia. “Ta for that!” for example.

Other than that, one other term which has taken on a very Australian identity is the phrase “nice one”.

Depending on the person, some may prefer to use this only in certain contexts.

It might seem a bit impersonal or even snappy to use in situations like I mentioned above, in shops or other daily interactions.

It’s perhaps the kind of thing you would say to your friend when they pass you something.

“Can you grab that screwdriver? Nice one,” for example.

At the same time, some might use this as pretty much their main, go-to slang term for thank you in Australia.

So, where do these terms come from?

Why do Australians say cheers?

In both Britain and Australia, cheers has for many decades been among the most common colloquial word for thank you.

It does seem to have originated in the U.K., where it was eventually passed on to Australia. Britain and Australia, for one reason or another, do more readily share slang than Britain and the U.S. or Australia and the U.S.

It’s believed that the term was originally used during the First World War.

It wasn’t until 1976, though, that a prominent Times journalist noted that it had become the main synonym for thank you in Britain.

There are numerous examples of terms used in the First World War which spread to Australian slang.

Australian soldiers made up a large part of the British Army at the time, so it’s not very surprising.

Why do Australians say ta?

The word ta is a good deal older than cheers.

It’s first recorded in the late 18^th Century, and is defined as an infantile form of “thank you”.

That is, it is the sound babies and children make when they are trying to say thank you before they can speak properly.

Some suggest instead that it comes from the Scots Gaelic word tapadh, meaning thank you—simply taking the first syllable of the word.

This is not the origin that the OED records, but it may well still be correct.

Whatever the case may be, eventually this caught on to simply be a shortened way of saying thank you.

When it spread to Australia is not clear, though, again, Australia and Britain were very much intertwined at this time.

It probably did catch on in Australia quite shortly after it did in Britain, and we can see that it was in widespread in Australia use by the middle of the 19^th Century.

Why do Australians say nice one?

The other most common slang term in Australia for thank you is certainly “nice one”, but unfortunately it’s very hard to trace the origin of a term like this.

Let’s break down the expression.

It’s essentially like saying “thank you for doing me a favor”.

Here, the “one” means a favor”. You might say someone “did you one” when they did you a favor—this is another very common turn of phrase in Australia.

So, saying “nice one” means, in the simplest terms, “thank you for the nice favor”.

It’s of course a shortened form of this, but the difference between this and other terms is the verbal acknowledgment of a favor done.

We just don’t know when this came into use—it’s simply a natural expression that may have its roots in very deep, yet woefully unrecorded, linguistic history.

So, there are a handful of terms for thanks that are used in Australia.

The most common are without doubt cheers and ta.

These are used across the whole country by most Australian speakers.

Even if they are not, most Australians will understand their meaning.

So, if you’re headed to Australia and looking for the best ways to thank the locals in their own slang, cheers, ta, or nice one will do you just fine.

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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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