Aussie Christmas slang: a dictionary for visitors
In Australian Christmas slang, Chrissy means Christmas, pressies are presents, a pav is a pavlova and a snag is a sausage, so "Chrissy at Nan's: pressies, snags and a pav" is a perfectly normal sentence. Most of it comes from one habit: Australians chop a word short and stick "-ie" or "-o" on the end.
This guide covers the words you're most likely to hear at an Australian Christmas, from the lunch table to the beach to the bird on the bin, with what they mean, how they're used, and (where a dictionary has traced it) where they came from.
The two rules that explain half of it
Rule one: shorten it and add "-ie" (or "-y"). The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) at the Australian National University calls this a very common pattern in Australian English that works as an informal marker [1]. Its own examples include barbie (a barbecue), Chrissy (Christmas) and rellie (a relative) [1], and its Ozwords newsletter adds sickie, pressie, cossie and blowie [2].
Rule two: shorten it and add "-o". The ANDC calls this a special feature of Australian English [1]. Arvo (afternoon) is the classic, alongside garbo (garbage collector) and journo (journalist) [1].
Once you know the rules you can decode a lot on the fly. The ANDC once summed up the season in a single post: "Rellies in flannos & sunnies open Chrissy pressies" [3].
Christmas words
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Chrissy | Christmas [1] | "What are you doing for Chrissy?" |
| pressie (also prezzie) | A present [2] | "Don't open your pressies till Nan's here." |
| rellies | Relatives [1] | "All the rellies are coming for lunch." |
| bon bon | A Christmas cracker, pulled at the table | "Who's got the other end of my bon bon?" |
| Kris Kringle | The gift swap where everyone draws one name and buys for that person; also called Secret Santa | "Work Kris Kringle is a $20 limit." |
| pav | Pavlova, the meringue dessert with cream and fruit [1] | "Nan's bringing the pav." |
| Carols by Candlelight | The big Christmas Eve carols concert, held in Melbourne since 1938 [7] | "Are we watching Carols tonight?" |
| Boxing Day | 26 December, a public holiday [6] | "Leftovers and the cricket on Boxing Day." |
A few notes for visitors:
- Bon bons are what most Australians call Christmas crackers. There's a whole guide on what a Christmas bon bon is, paper crown and terrible joke included.
- Pav is short for pavlova, named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926 [1]. New Zealand has the earliest record of the word pavlova, but the ANDC says Australia can claim the first record of pav, from 1966 [1]. Who invented the dessert itself is a long and friendly argument between the two countries.
- Carols by Candlelight began in Melbourne in 1938, founded by radio broadcaster Norman Banks, and has been held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl since 1959 [7].
- Boxing Day is 26 December and a public holiday right around Australia, though South Australia calls its holiday the Proclamation Day holiday [6]. In 2026 it falls on a Saturday, so most states and territories add an extra public holiday on Monday 28 December, and Tasmania holds its Boxing Day holiday on the Monday instead [6].
At the barbie
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| barbie | A barbecue [1] | "Dad's on the barbie again." |
| snag | A sausage, first recorded in 1937 [1] | "Grab us a snag in bread." |
| esky | A portable insulated cool box for food and drinks, from a brand name; recorded from the 1950s [1] | "The prawns are in the esky." |
| chook | A chicken [1] | "We're doing a roast chook and a ham." |
| arvo | Afternoon; "this arvo" can shrink to "sarvo" [1] | "Lunch runs well into the arvo." |
| brekkie | Breakfast, by rule one [1] | "Christmas brekkie is mangoes and toast." |
At the beach and in the backyard
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| thongs | Flip-flops (the footwear, not the underwear) | "Thongs off before you come inside." |
| sunnies | Sunglasses [3] | "Where are my sunnies?" |
| budgie smugglers | Close-fitting men's swimming briefs [1] | "Uncle Bazza's in his budgie smugglers again." |
| togs, bathers, cossies, swimmers | More Australian words for swimwear [1] | "Bring your cossies, we're going to the beach." |
| mozzie | A mosquito; originally and chiefly Australian, recorded from the early 20th century [1] | "The mozzies are out, light the candle." |
| blowie | A blowfly [2] | "Cover the pav, the blowies are here." |
| bindi | The bindi-eye, a plant with small barbed burrs; the word comes from the Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay languages of northern New South Wales [1] | "Ow! Bindis!" |
The beach words come with a sun-smart footnote. "Sunburnt" is our game's joke, not advice: Cancer Council's five steps are slip on covering clothing, slop on SPF50 or SPF50+ broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek shade and slide on some sunglasses, whenever the UV index is 3 or higher [8]. In other words: sunnies on.
The birds you'll be told about
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bin chicken | The Australian white ibis, named for its habit of rummaging in bins [4] [5] | "A bin chicken just took my sandwich." |
| dump chook, tip turkey | Other names for the same bird [4] | "Watch the tip turkey near the bins." |
| cocky | A cockatoo. Its oldest Australian meaning is a small-scale farmer, short for "cockatoo farmer", from the 1870s [1] | "The cockies are at the Christmas lights again." |
| galah | The pink and grey cockatoo; the word comes from Yuwaalaraay and related languages of northern New South Wales and is first recorded in the 1850s [1] | "A flock of galahs on the oval." |
The Australian Museum even lists Bin Chicken as an alternative name for the white ibis on its species page [5]. We've written a whole piece on why Australians call the ibis a bin chicken.
Small talk
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| g'day | Good day; a greeting used at any hour, recorded from the 1880s [1] | "G'day, merry Christmas!" |
| no worries | No bother, all fine; first recorded in the 1960s [1] | "Thanks for the pressie." "No worries." |
| mate | A friend, or a friendly way to address anyone [1] | "Cheers, mate." |
| true blue | Very genuine, very loyal; Australian [1] | "A true blue Aussie Christmas." |
| Aussie | Australia or Australian [1] | "An Aussie Christmas lunch." |
| ute | A utility vehicle: a two-door cab with a tray at the back; first recorded in 1943 [1] | "Santa's swapped the sleigh for a ute." |
A few things to know before you try it
- Most of it is affectionate. Calling the ibis a bin chicken or Christmas Chrissy is warm, not rude.
- You don't have to use it. Australians will understand plain English. A visitor saying "arvo" is charming; a visitor saying everything in slang is a bit much.
- There's more than one word for most things. The ANDC calls budgie smugglers just one of the numerous Australian words for a pair of swimming briefs [1]. Ask three Aussies what to call swimwear and you may get three answers.
Practise it in the game
Sunburnt Santa is built out of this vocabulary: Santa drives a ute, Nan judges the pav, Dad mans the barbie and the bin chickens are always watching. Two doors are a good place to practise. In Thong Pairs on Day 18 you flip cards to match pairs of thongs against the clock, and True Blue Quiz on Day 23 asks ten questions about Christmas in Australia and around the world, with points for speed.
Keep reading
- What is a Christmas bon bon?
- Who invented the pavlova? Australia vs New Zealand
- Christmas in Australia: the complete guide
Sources
- Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms, Australian National Dictionary Centre, Australian National University
- Ozwords, October 2007 (Vol. 16 No. 1), Australian National Dictionary Centre and Oxford University Press
- Ozwords, October 2017, Australian National Dictionary Centre and Oxford University Press
- All hail the bin chicken, Macquarie Dictionary (blog, 11 February 2021)
- Australian White Ibis, Australian Museum
- 2026 public holidays, Fair Work Ombudsman
- The history of Carols by Candlelight, Vision Australia
- Be SunSmart, Cancer Council Australia