Entry · catalog no. 9600
buddy ghee
/ /ˈbʌdi ˈɡiː/ /BUD-ee GEE
noun · United States (Harlem and jazz circles) · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
A fellow, a pal; used chiefly as a casual, friendly way of addressing or referring to a man. It belongs to the jive talk of Harlem and the jazz world.
“Hey, buddy ghee, save me a seat by the bandstand.”
Origin & Attribution
Black American jive slang of the swing era, built on "buddy" with a clipped "gee" tag. It is defined as "fellow" in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary (the 1944 edition, as reprinted in his later book), and appears in dialogue in Mezzrow and Wolfe's Really the Blues (1946), as recorded in Green's Dictionary of Slang. Whether it appears in the earlier 1938 and 1939 editions has not been confirmed, so the 1944 date is the earliest the archive claims.
1944
Defined as "fellow" in Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary.
1946
Used in dialogue in Mezzrow and Wolfe, Really the Blues.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
United States (Harlem and jazz circles) · 1940s
Spoken by
Harlem jive speakers, jazz musicians and swing-era hipsters
$BUDDYGThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Fading2 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
15/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1944
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Mainstream crossover
1946
search interest spikes
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
■
Cab Calloway, Hepster's Dictionary (glossary, 1944 edition), 'buddy ghee'
glossary, 1944
■
+ Cite a sourceMezzrow and Wolfe, Really the Blues (1946), as cited in Green's Dictionary of Slang, 'buddy'
book, 1946
See also