Entry · catalog no. 2435

brick

/ — /pending

adjective · northeast · 2026

✓ Verified

Bitterly cold — used of weather that cuts like the frozen side of a brick building.

“Grab your coat, it's brick outside.”

Origin & Attribution

New York City, in African American English from Harlem and the Bronx, documented from the 1980s and 1990s.

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

The Northeast

northeast · 2026

Spoken by

northeast

$BRICKThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Rising

0 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

12/100

peak cultural energy

Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

2026

in the culture

Recorded here

2026

point of first record

Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.

Hear it spoken

By region — how it actually sounds

@bxgriot

The Bronx, NY

@phillyanne

Philadelphia, PA

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

USC Digital Folklore Archives — "Common New York Slang: Brick"

submitted

■

Merriam-Webster — slang entry "brick"

submitted