People love to pretend slang is some modern corruption of language, as if medieval peasants weren’t calling each other names just as creatively as today’s teenagers. Estonian slang is no exception - it’s been shaped by wars, occupations, and the internet, with a healthy dose of dark humour along the way. Let’s cut through the romanticism and look at how it really evolved.
Medieval roots: When insults were an art form
Old Estonian wasn’t exactly polite. The earliest recorded slang was less about casual chat and more about surviving in a world where your neighbour might stab you over a cow. Farmers, Vikings, and later German crusaders all left their mark. Take the word tont - originally meaning ‘devil’, now just a mild insult for an idiot. Progress, I suppose.
Tont
/tont/“Devil, idiot”
Soviet era: Slang as rebellion
Under Soviet rule, slang became a way to mock authority without ending up in a gulag. Russian loanwords got twisted into inside jokes, like sibul (onion), which doubled as slang for a Russian soldier - because, much like onions, they made you cry. Estonians also borrowed from Finnish, a linguistic middle finger to Moscow’s attempts at Russification.
The 90s: Capitalism meets creativity
Independence brought American TV, Finnish radio, and a flood of new words. Suddenly, Estonians were calling things lahe (cool), borrowed from Finnish ‘laaja’ (wide), because why not? Tech slang exploded too - klõps (click) became a verb faster than you could say ‘dial-up internet’.
Lahe
/ˈlɑhe/“Cool”
Modern slang: Memes, anglicisms, and absurdity
Today’s Estonian slang is a chaotic mix of English internet speak and local inside jokes. Words like vibin (vibing) exist alongside gems like pättuma (to act like a cartoon villain). Memes dictate the lexicon now - see kassipojad (kitten boys), a term for softbois that no one saw coming.
- Need practical phrases? Check out our guide on essential Estonian for travellers
- Or if bureaucracy’s your nemesis, here’s how to navigate Estonia’s paperwork in Estonian
Why slang matters (no, really)
Slang isn’t lazy language - it’s a linguistic pressure valve. Estonian’s rigid grammar doesn’t leave much room for playfulness, so slang fills the gap. It’s also a time capsule: every generation’s slang reveals what they valued, hated, or found hilarious. Even the Estonian Language Institute grudgingly admits this now, after decades of pretending slang wasn’t ‘proper’ Estonian.
