'1980s' originates from Modern English, specifically the numeral '1980' plus the pluralizing suffix '-s', where the digits come from the Hindu–Arabic numeral system and denote the year 1980.

'1980s' derives from the spoken form 'the nineteen eighties' and the orthographic convention of appending '-s' to a year to denote the decade; this usage became common in modern English for referring to decades.

Initially it literally designated the set of years beginning with 1980 (1980–1989); over time it also came to evoke the cultural, social, and stylistic features associated with that decade.