# Slang terms for beer



## albondiga

Hi all,

I'm interested to know what slang terms are used to refer to beer in different languages. 

In English, I like the simple "*a cold one*," and I think "*brewski*" has a nice ring to it... (note: I'm American, and I do wonder how much the slang terms for this beverage differ throughout the English-speaking world.)

However, my favorite term in any language is the Portuguese "*loira gelada*" or "*loura gelada*"; literally, a "frozen blonde" (or "icy blonde" if you prefer )... [I've only encountered it in Portuguese, but I wonder whether a comparable term exists in other Romance languages.]

Anyway, what other slang terms exist for beer in other languages?


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## dn88

Hello,

In Poland beer is usually called "browar" (Polish word for "brewery") or more informally "browiec". I've also read that sometimes it is referred to as "chmiel" (Polish word for "hops"), but I don't think it's commonly used.

dn88


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## Thomas1

albondiga said:


> In English, I like the simple "*a cold one*," and I think "*brewski*" has a nice ring to it... (note: I'm American, and I do wonder how much the slang terms for this beverage differ throughout the English-speaking world.)
> [...]


The latter one looks like of Polish origin. 
To those given by dn88, I'm adding *bro.*
I've never heard _chmiel_, though.

Tom


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## sarcie

In English (IRL), a pint is synonymous with a pint of beer or Guinness. In certain parts of South Dublin, the term "Britney" is used quite a lot (rhyming slang -> Britney Spears = Beers). 

In France, you occasionally refer to the type of beer you're drinking - a "blonde" is a light-colored lager, a "rousse" is a reddish-color beer.

Here in Munich, there are terms to refer to beer mixes, but it's not really slang terms for beer - for example, lager mixed with lemonade is a Radler (cyclist), wheat beer mixed with lemonade is a Russ'n (Russian), etc.


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## CapnPrep

More French: _une mousse_ ("a foam") [not very common, I believe]


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## Mariamar

Hello,

In Portuguese (Europe) we also say bejeca, jola when we are speaking with friends about beer:
Vou beber uma bejeca (it seems it is a diminutive cerveja-cervejeca-bejeca)
on the other hand, jola is is the contrary cerveja-cervejola.


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## TraductoraPobleSec

In both Catalan and Spanish we adopt the Italian term to refer to beer when you're among friends: *BIRRA*.

- Anem a fer unes *birres / birretes*. (Catalan)
- Vamos a tomar unas *birras / birrillas*. (Spanish)


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## elpoderoso

In England you would usually say ''I'm going to have a pint'' because beer is usually drank in pints.I can't for the life of me think of any slang terms for beer at this moment other than that Guinness is referred to as ''The Black Stuff''.


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## Eáránë

In West-Flemish (= Belgian dialect) we say "een pint(e)", which looks like the English word 'pint', but is pronounced differently. It rhymes with 'hint'. 

Toodles
Eáránë


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## Joannes

Eáránë said:


> In West-Flemish (= Belgian dialect) we say "een pint(e)", which looks like the English word 'pint', but is pronounced differently. It rhymes with 'hint'.


 
But that's not slang, is it? I would even say it's Standard (Belgian?) Dutch.  (The probably even more standard variant would be *pils*.)

I'm not under the impression that we use slang terms for 'beer' very often. I have heard - and used - *vriend* 'friend', but I couldn't imagine it to be widely distributed.

Another word that _is_ quite common to my impression is a *glazen boterham(meke)* 'glass sandwich', which you can say to have *gegeten* 'eaten' rather than drunk. It would be used only (or rather) in specific contexts, though.

There is a word for 'beer' with a rather distinguished edge to it: *gerstenat* 'barley liquid'. (*Nat* is usually used as an adjective meaning 'wet', its use as a substantive 'liquid' is very marginal.) Although you may find this in certain invitations or advertisings, it is also used ironically in descriptions of otherwise nasty, drunken scenes.


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## Aurin

albondiga said:


> However, my favorite term in any language is the Portuguese "*loira gelada*" or "*loura gelada*"; literally, a "frozen blonde" (or "icy blonde" if you prefer )... [I've only encountered it in Portuguese, but I wonder whether a comparable term exists in other Romance languages.]


Edit: Also we have Gerstensaft (barley juice, amber nectar).
In German we also have "ein kühles Blondes" = a cool blonde


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## DCPaco

In Mexico, these are some of the ones I know of:

cheves, chelas, helodias, cebadas, birongas, espumosas, güeras


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## Whodunit

Aurin said:


> In German we also have "ein kühles Blondes" = a cool blonde


 
Yes, but that one is more used among adults. In teen slang, we sometimes say _Alk_ (short for _Alkohol_) for any kind of beer. I can't remember any other slang term for beer, except maybe _ein Bierchen_ (= a little beer).


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## altan

In Turkish, the most common is

Arpa Suyu (literally: barley water)


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## tom_in_bahia

Mariamar said:


> In Portuguese (Europe) we also say bejeca, jola when we are speaking with friends about beer:
> Vou beber uma bejeca (it seems it is a diminutive cerveja-cervejeca-bejeca)
> on the other hand, jola is is the contrary cerveja-cervejola.



They do the same in Brazil: cervejinha. Another one from Brazil I associate with "a cold one" in English is "uma gelada" (which could just be a shortened version of "loira gelada"). I know that when you are going to go out for beer in Brazil, you may say, "vou comer água" (lit.: I'm going to eat water).

Another one from English - though it seems a little out-dated - is "suds" and a pejorative for bad/warm beer is "piss water". A generic euphamism for alcohol in English (frequently used for beer) can be "liquid courage" insinuating the loss of social inhibitions that can occur after drinking an alcoholic beverage.

I think it's also interesting that in areas with a large Spanish-speaking populations in the US, like Arizona, California or South Florida, many English speakers will say "cerveza" in social situations with other English speakers (noting that this wouldn't be English to Spanish code-switching because the speaker who says it, nor the listener, doesn't need to have any real knowledge of the Spanish language - consider, words that are understood by English speakers like _loco, gringo, agua, dinero, etc._).


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## doman

Ordering beer in Vietnamese:

_*-một vại* / a jar ( ìn fact, vại is a glass )_
_*-một lon ba-ba-ba* / a can of beer _
_*-một bia hơi* / pneumatic beer / (in fact, a draught beer)_


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## Frank06

Hi,

I have no idea what is meant by 'slang', but anyway:

Also in *Dutch*: 
- dagschotel (plat du jour).
- Joe Piler (this was popular a few years ago. It's actually the name of a popular brand which got pronounced in a kind of fake English way).

Frank


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## Liiisa

Swedish: Bira or Bärs.


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## Mariaguadalupe

DCPaco said:


> In Mexico, these are some of the ones I know of:
> 
> cheves, chelas, helodias, cebadas, birongas, espumosas, güeras


indio muerto (in reference to the name of the beer and that it has to be really cold)


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## Whodunit

Liiisa said:


> Swedish: Bira or Bärs.


 
But _bira_ is not a *slang* term, is it? Isn't that the standard word for _beer_?


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## Cannister7

Some more from England which I can't say I use, but have heard at least;

a jar - 'fancy a jar?' probably referring to the pint glass
a bevvie - from beverage, think I heard it on Brookside the Liverpudlian soap opera so it must be real!

oh and in Panama they say 'pinta', from the English 'pint' even though it's usually served in cans or bottles, and nowhere near the same volume.


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## Chazzwozzer

altan said:


> In Turkish, the most common is
> 
> Arpa Suyu (literally: barley water)



Well, I don't think we have a slang word for beer, it's just _bira_. _Arpa suyu _for _bira _must be an informal term, not slang.


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## Abbassupreme

In Iranian Persian:
"Araq", which literally translates to "sweat".  I forgot how to spell it correctly, though, so I'm not sure if it would be transliterated at as "aragh" or "araq".  There you are, in any case, though.


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## Frank06

Araq = beer??? Interesting.
I thought عرق was a strong alcoholic drink (homemade in Iran, between 40 and ??°, smells like the kind of liquid to boost the fire on a barbeque).

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Abbassupreme

I really don't know.  My father uses "araq" ('araq) as a slang term for "alcoholic beverage" all the time, and I'm sure I've heard his friends use the term, as well.  Mind you, he's from central Tehran, were slang is apparently used abundantly, just like London's Cockney.  I could totally be wrong about this, though.  Any fellow Iranians wanna come help me out?  

Normally, beer is just called "âbe joh" ("barley water").


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## Staarkali

In French, _une mousse_ (lit. foam) is quite common. Low educated people will also say _une binouze_ (for beer), a free variation of _de la_ _bibine_ (wine)


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## albondiga

Thanks, everyone!

(PS: Maybe "colloquial" would have been a better word to use than "slang"... still, I think most people got the point of what I was asking...)


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## abba5

To Whodunit: the normal word in Swedish for beer is _öl_, so _bira_ and _bärs_ are slang words, probably inspired by german, english or french. 

(Note for those who think all nordic languages are very similar: don't go to a Norwegian bar and ask for a _bärs, _since in Norway it means poo...)

Another common expression is _en stor stark_ (one big strong), referring to a glass of 40 cl (big) with draft (lager) beer of around 5-6 degrees of alcohol (strong), which is the standard beer served in pubs and restaurants.


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## MarianoFD

TraductoraPobleSec said:


> In both Catalan and Spanish we adopt the Italian term to refer to beer when you're among friends: *BIRRA*.
> 
> - Anem a fer unes *birres / birretes*. (Catalan)
> - Vamos a tomar unas *birras / birrillas*. (Spanish)



Im from Argentina, and I can tell you that the same term was adopted here


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## catlady60

I'm surprised no English speaker mentioned *suds.*


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian beer is *пиво* /p*i*vo/
Slang words are:
*пивко* /pivk*o*/ - adding a suffix of endearment (a similar word would be somethinmg like "beery" in English)
*пивасик* /piv*a*sik/ - sort of baby-talk - I only heard this word used to imitate the speech of uneducated / lower social class people.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

Beer is «μπύρα» or «μπίρα» (both spellings are pronounced as /'bira/) a feminine noun, calqued from the Italian word for the beverage, birra. The word with the ypsilon is earlier.
Ale is «ζύθος» ('ziθos, _m._) an ancient masculine noun «ζῦτος» ('zūtŏs) and «ζῦθος» ('zūtʰŏs) with obscure etymology (probably an early ancient Egyptian loan word).
In slang:
«Μπιρόνι» (bi'roni, _n._) and in plural, «μπιρόνια» (bi'roɲa).
The fan of excessive beer drinking is referred to as «μπιροκλής» (biro'klis, _m._) from «μπίρα» and the mythical hero «Ηρακλής» (Heracles).


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## Nonstar

In addition to what the others said about beer in Brazil, I also know _acervaijanas_ and _barriguda bem morta_.
_Acervaijanas = azerbaijanas_ (Azerbaijan women+_cerva_ = short for _cerveja_)  class!
_Barriguda bem morta_ = _barriguda_ the bottle looks like a pot-bellied person, and _bem morta_ = dead cold.
Also _breja_.


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## mataripis

In Tagalog: Inuming mabula'


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## Jabir

Well, we have "cerva" in Portuguese also. 
For "cachaça", a Brazilian alcoholic drink, we have the "marvada" which means "bad girl"...


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## Nonstar

Jabir said:


> Well, we have "cerva" in Portuguese also.
> For "cachaça", a Brazilian alcoholic drink, we have the "*marvada*" which means "bad girl"...


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## Jabir

Lol, Nonstar, that was a very funny expression I haven't heard from a long time, but my brother said it yesterday... maybe he's mixing a lot with the Sertanejo folks out there


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## Frank78

ein kühles Blondes = a cold blonde (one) ; obviously only for pale beers
ein Hopfenblütentee = a hop blossom tea
eine Hopfenkaltschale = a cold hop soup; Kaltschale is normally a dessert


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## NewtonCircus

Eáránë said:


> In West-Flemish (= Belgian dialect) we say "een pint(e)", which looks like the English word 'pint', but is pronounced differently. It rhymes with 'hint'.



IMHO both words do not only look similar but are technically speaking one and the same or at least have the same origin.

A _pint _is in fact a measure which equals to 568 ml, at least for an_ imperial pint. _The Americans seem to have introduced some profitability measures and reduced the _US pint_ to 473 ml. Our economist were apparently trained in the US and reduced our very own _pint bier_ to 250 ml. That's I guess the reason why everyone calls it _pintje, _unless you cross the Belgian/Dutch border were you get double the amount, that is 500 ml of the same liquid.

Now, how hard can that be .


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## NewtonCircus

Eáránë said:


> In West-Flemish (= Belgian dialect) we say "een pint(e)", which looks like the English word 'pint', but is pronounced differently. It rhymes with 'hint'.



IMHO both words do not only look similar but are technically speaking one and the same or at least have the same origin.

A _pint _is in fact a measure which equals to 568 ml, at least for an_ imperial pint. _The Americans seem to have introduced some profitability measures and reduced the _US pint_ to 473 ml. Our economist were apparently trained in the US and reduced our very own _pint bier_ to 250 ml. That's I guess the reason why everyone calls it _pintje, _unless you cross the Belgian/Dutch border were you get double the amount, that is 500 ml of the same liquid.

Now, how hard can that be .


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian söricilin *[sör beer + -icilin like penicillin]


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## Youngfun

In Italian most beers are lagers, so it's called _bionda_ (blonde). 
Peroni has made many ads with the slogan _"La tua bionda naturale"_ (Your natural blonde), with gorgeous blonde girls as testimonials.
As in France, when ordering beer you specify the color: _chiara_ (light), _rossa_ (red), _scura_ (dark).

In China there's no slang for beer. But the most famous beer "Tsingdao" - in Chinese: 青岛啤酒 _Qingdao Pijiu_ - is usually shortened to 青啤 _Qing pi_.


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## AquisM

啤酒 is Chinese for beer, and is pronounced in Cantonese as _be __zau. _In Hong Kong it's common to say 啤啤佢 (_be be keoi) _for _(Let's_) _have a beer_.


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## Nonstar

AquisM said:


> 啤酒 is Chinese for beer, and is pronounced in Cantonese as _be __zau. _In Hong Kong it's common to say 啤啤佢 (_be be keoi) _for _(Let's_) _have a beer_.



You have a point there! We say "Be be o ke(oi)?", people say "Be be cerveja!".


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## Youngfun

AquisM said:


> 啤酒 is Chinese for beer, and is pronounced in Cantonese as _be __zau. _In Hong Kong it's common to say 啤啤佢 (_be be keoi) _for _(Let's_) _have a beer_.


Doesn't 佢 mean "he"? 
I think I heard people pronouncing _be jau_. The Cantonese z sounds very much like j for us.



Nonstar said:


> You have a point there! We say "Be be o ke(oi)?", people say "Be be cerveja!".


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## djmc

In England at least one can distinguish between bitter and mild, e.g. "A pint of mild please". One might specify the type "A pint of Boddingtons". At one time in the south of England, bitter was normally drunk, but mild (M and B) was more normal in the Midlands. In Scotland one would ask for a pint of heavy. In London where bitter is the normal beer, often there is best beer, and then another which is weaker. I had a friend at college who used to say "A pint of wallop", meaning weak bitter.


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## OneStroke

Youngfun said:


> Doesn't 佢 mean "he"?
> I think I heard people pronouncing _be jau_. The Cantonese z sounds very much like j for us.



Yes, but it also means 'it'. When you say 'darn it!', you don't have any holes in your socks.


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## Halfdan

Whodunit said:


> But _bira_ is not a *slang* term, is it? Isn't that the standard word for _beer_?



*öl* is the standard Swedish word for beer.


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## gwenboulet

In French we also say "demi". In context "je vais prendre un demi" refers to a half "chopine", the chopine being an old unit for beer which was about the same quantity as a pint. So demi = half a chopine = a quarter of a pint.


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## Youngfun

OneStroke said:


> Yes, but it also means 'it'. When you say 'darn it!', you don't have any holes in your socks.


So literally: beer it! 
And I hope Hong Kong has better beer than China.


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## Linnets

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> 
> Beer is «μπύρα» or «μπίρα» (both spellings are pronounced as /'bira/) a feminine noun, calqued from the Italian word for the beverage, birra. The word with the ypsilon is earlier.


What does the spelling μπύρα come from? A cross between μπίρα and ζύθος?



Youngfun said:


> In Italian most beers are lagers, so it's called _bionda_ (blonde).
> Peroni has made many ads with the slogan _"La tua bionda naturale"_ (Your natural blonde), with gorgeous blonde girls as testimonials.
> As in France, when ordering beer you specify the color: _chiara_ (light), _rossa_ (red), _scura_ (dark).


Also _piccola_/_birrino_ ('small one, little beer', ½ pint or 200 ml), _media_ ('middle-size one', a pint or 400 ml), _grande_/_litro_ ('big one, litre', one _Maß_ 1 litre).


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## apmoy70

Linnets said:


> What comes the spelling μπύρα from? A cross between μπίρα and ζύθος?


I really don't know, both Triantafyllidis & Babiniotis say that the spelling μπύρα is not justified etymologically. Hypercorrection perhaps?


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## Ballenero

In Basque 
(it's not slang, just its standard name)
beer is _*garagardoa*_.
It's fun because it means: wine of barley.


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## Penyafort

In Aragonese, it can informally be called _*un hordio/unos hordios*_ (also spelt _un ordio/unos ordios_), which literally means _a barley/some barleys._


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## JNavBar

In Cuba, you can call all kind of beers 'lager', pronounced /'la ɣer/, no matter what kind of beer you are drinking. Although, to be fair, you won't find stouts or bocks in a tropical weather.


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## Messquito

I am not aware of any slang terms for 啤酒 in Mandarin. Not sure if that's because alcohol has never been a taboo in our culture and we never see the need to make a secret code out of it or if we're just boring. 
You can, however, say 喝一/兩/幾杯(lit. drink a/two/several cup/glass((e)s)) to mean "tie one on" but that is not limited to beer. Any alcohol will do.


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## Nonstar

Would you provide the pinyin for those words, messquito? Or the bopomofo?


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## shawnee

Slang for beer in Australia is 'piss', generating the expression, 'let's get pissed'.


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## Messquito

Nonstar said:


> Would you provide the pinyin for those words, messquito? Or the bopomofo?


ㄏㄜˉ ㄧˋ /ㄌㄧㄤˇ/ㄐㄧˇ ㄅㄟˉ


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## djara

In Tunisian Arabic, the word most widely used is *birra *(pronounced beer-ra, probably from Italian), Many refer to beer as *Celtia*, a brand name.  In writing, however, the more standard Arabic word ji'a (جعة) is used.


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