Entry · catalog no. 3289
chillin'
/ /ˈtʃɪlɪn/ /CHIL-in
verb · New York City (Bronx/Harlem) · 1970s
✓ Verified
1.
To be at ease — relaxing, socializing, or simply passing time without stress, urgency, or a fixed agenda. It can describe doing nothing at all or doing something low-key with friends; the point is the unhurried state of mind, not the activity itself.
“"What y'all doing tonight?" "Nothing much, just chillin' on the block."”
Origin & Attribution
Rooted in late-1970s Black New York speech — the Bronx and Harlem hip-hop and street scene — where 'chill' was used as a verb meaning to calm down, ease off, or simply exist in a relaxed state. Mainstream references sometimes file it under generic '90s youth slang' or credit surfer culture and internet chatrooms for spreading it, but the documented trail runs through Black vernacular and early hip-hop records a full decade or more before it crossed over.
1979
Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" is cited as an early recorded use of the 'chill' verb sense.
1980s
Word lists documenting early hip-hop slang record 'chill,' 'chillout,' and 'chillin'' as an established verb meaning to calm down or stay cool.
1990
The theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air carries 'chillin'' into national living rooms, accelerating its move into mainstream American speech.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
New York City (Bronx/Harlem) · 1970s
Spoken by
Black New Yorkers originally; later Black communities nationwide, then absorbed into general American youth slang
$CHILLIThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Standard47 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
75/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1979
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
■
Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight" (1979)
song/record
■
+ Cite a source"Early 80s Hip Hop Slang, for the Uninitiated" word list entry for CHILL
blog/glossary
See also