jawn
noun
| JAWN
Philadelphia slang for any unspecified thing or person
What does jawn mean?
Jawn is an informal term used mainly in (or associated with) Philadelphia, to refer to any person, place, thing, event, etc. whose name one does not know or, more often, does not need to specify because it can be inferred by context. In Philadelphia-area Black slang, jawn can more specifically mean “a woman,” especially as seen as attractive but sometimes as disparaged or objectified.
Examples of jawn
Happy belated my guy hope u enjoyed that jawn
—@justin.bell0714, Threads, 11 Nov. 2024
This Bad Jawn at the Black Tie Gala pulled up on me so I had to take a pic
—Councilman Isaiah Thomas argued the [ski] masks' concealment of criminals' faces outweighed their fashionable appearances. … Thomas tells the city's youth "you got to take them jawns off."
—We posted the audio of this new jawn from the two west coast rhyme vets earlier this week, but the CMW emcee has also now released a video.
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Where does jawn come from?
Jawn originated in African American English as a variant pronunciation of the term joint (in its slang sense of a “place”). One important piece of early evidence for the evolution of joint from “place” to any “thing” is a 1980 song, “That’s the Joint,” by the Funky 4 + 1, a hip-hop group from the Bronx, New York. The song features a refrain calling people, their music, and their overall ‘vibe’ the joint, akin to calling someone appealing “it” or something fashionable “the thing.”
Joint further evolved into jawn in Philadelphia, its pronunciation shaped by features of African African English among speakers in that region. It’s documented in linguistics field research in 1981 and recorded more generally in informal writing by the early 2000s. The term gained more mainstream prominence in 2015 after it was notably featured in a scene (about the wonderfully distinctive and all-purpose word itself) in the film Creed, part of the iconically Philadelphian Rocky series.
How is jawn used?
How is jawn not used? That’s the better question. For all the many words English has, sometimes words delightfully defy us here at Merriam-Webster. Above all, jawn is a very context-dependent word.
Jawn is decidedly associated with Philadelphia—so much so that brands, events, and slogans, associated with this city have embraced the term to convey a knowing and playful sense of local pride and identity.
Most widely, jawn is used as a colloquial way to refer to a thing, place, or happening one does not need or want to specify or designate, as opposed to as placeholder word or name for something a person does not know or recall (like whatsit or whoosis). In this way, jawn frequently indicates positive qualities, especially when referring to something novel or exciting to its user. For example: “We tried these savory donut jawns the other day. Delicious!” or “Are you going to that jawn tonight? It’s supposed to be an amazing party.” This usage is similar to the slang expression bad boy, as in “Look at this bad boy I got off from my neighbor who was moving. It’s practically a brand-new TV!”
When used in Black slang regional to Philadelphia to refer to people, jawn can refer to a woman, and is used in complex, sensitive ways, depending on speaker or context. Often, jawn stands in as a positive term for an attractive, classy woman, as in “She may have moved to London, but she’s still a Philly jawn at heart.” Other times, jawn may be used disparagingly, akin to ho.
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