slogan (n.)

1670s, earlier slogorne (1510s, Gavin Douglas), "battle cry," from Gaelic sluagh-ghairm "battle cry used by Scottish Highland or Irish clans," from sluagh "army, host, slew," from Celtic and Balto-Slavic *slough- "help, service." Second element is gairm "a cry" (see garrulous). The metaphoric sense of "distinctive word or phrase used by a political or other group" is attested from 1704 (as slughon). The spellings also included a fully folk-etymologized slughorn.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to slogan

garrulous (adj.)

1610s, from Latin garrulus "talkative, chattering," from garrire "to chatter," from PIE root *gar- "to call, cry," of imitative origin (compare Greek gerys "voice, sound," Ossetic zar "song," Welsh garm, Old Irish gairm "noise, cry"). Related: Garrulously; garrulousness.

slew (n.2)

"large number," 1839, American English, according to OED (1989) from Irish sluagh "a host, crowd, multitude," from Celtic and Balto-Slavic *sloug- "help, service" (see slogan).

sloganeer (v.)

1941, "express oneself in political slogans;" see slogan + -eer. Perhaps it is based on or from an earlier noun sloganeer "one who makes or uses slogans" (1922). An earlier verb was sloganize (1909). Related: Sloganeering.

Trends of slogan

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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motto

1580s, "word or phrase on an emblem explaining or emphasizing its symbolic significance; phrase or short sentence inscribed on something used to indicate the tenor of that to which it is attached," from Italian motto "a saying, legend attached to a heraldic design," from Late Lat

shibboleth

late 14c., in Bible translations, the Hebrew word shibboleth, meaning "flood, stream," also "ear of corn," as used in Judges xii.4-6. During the slaughter at the fords of Jordan, the Gileadites took it as a password to distinguish their men from fleeing Ephraimites, because Ephra

strafe

British soldiers in colloquial or humorous use, from German strafen "to punish" (from Proto-Germanic *stræf-) as used in the slogan...

whack

in the slang sense of "unappealing; crazy," hence "worthless, stupid" is by 1986, apparently popularized by an anti-drug slogan...

normalcy

Harding (who campaigned that year under the slogan "Return to Normalcy," meaning pre-World War I conditions)....

ban

Ban the bomb as a slogan of the nuclear disarmament movement is from 1955....

safety

Safety first as an accident-prevention slogan first recorded 1873....

cry

mid-13c., "yell (something) out, utter" (transitive); c. 1300, "beg, implore; speak earnestly and loudly; advertise by calling out," from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *critare, from Latin quiritare "to wail, shriek" (source of Italian gridare, Old Spanish cridar, Spanish a

catch-phrase

also catchphrase, "phrase caught up and repeated," 1837, from catch (v.) + phrase (n.). The notion is of words that will "catch" in the mind (compare catchword, which is older and might have suggested this word; also catchy). From the first in a political context, also of lines f

mantra

1808, "that part of the Vedas which contains hymns," from Sanskrit mantra-s "sacred message or text, charm, spell, counsel," literally "instrument of thought," related to manyate "thinks," from PIE root *men- (1) "to think." Meaning "sacred text used as a charm or incantation" is

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Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of slogan. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved March 15, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/slogan

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Harper Douglas, “Etymology of slogan,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed March 15, 2025, https://www.etymonline.com/word/slogan.

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Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of slogan.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/slogan. Accessed 15 March, 2025.

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D. Harper. “Etymology of slogan.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/slogan (accessed March 15, 2025).

updated on January 11, 2023

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Dictionary entries near slogan

slob

slobber

slobbery

sloe

slog

slogan

sloganeer

sloop

slop

slope

sloppy