Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US teen, also zat, zitz, zort) a spot, pimple or blackhead; also attrib.

1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 14: ‘How about the boys, hey’ [...] ‘Creepy zitties?’ ‘Plenty.’.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 226: Zat [...] Zit A pimple. [Ibid.] 127: Zit city Poor complexion [...] Zitz [...] Zort A pimple.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 10: She could still remember the exact location of the zit she had sprouted on the day of the photograph.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 1: Shane is a dole bludger. He's always boracic. [...] He wants to get rid of his zits.
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 171: I’ll wash my face with it every day from now on and whamo — Mr. Clean. Zit remover.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 29: A collection of zit-encrusted, squeaky-voiced wankers.
1999		Indep. Rev. 1 Oct. 12: There’s a little zit on her butt.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 186: Anabolic steroid abuse can shrink your balls, give you zits an make you shit like a human expresso machine.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘Discipline’ in Knockemstiff 117: Sammy’s dumb zit-faced cousin.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 28: My zits popped in the throes of my [...] passion.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 16: [B]etween the mozzie bites and angry zits — I look like an anthropomorphic pizza.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 176: A wigged-out wheelman with pizza-pus zits.

2. (US campus) any form of mark.

1966

Current Sl. I:1 7/2: Zit Something bad or unpleasant, crude — What’s that zit on your coat?

3. (US campus) a general insult.

1964		Kokomo Morn. Times (IN) 8 Sept. 10/4: [headline] Are you a gleep? a zit? a goopus?
1967–8		in Baker et al. CUSS.

4. (US gay) an underage boy.

1972

(ref. to late 1960s) B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 45: any boy under the age of consent [...] zit (late ’60s).

5. a skin blemish left by a lovebite.

1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 69: zit n Reddish mark caused by kissing.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.