Entry · catalog no. 1086
down bad
/ /daʊn bæd/ /down bad
adjective · national · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
In a bad way: broke, struggling, or at a low point. In more recent use, desperate to an embarrassing degree — especially over someone you want.
“He was textin her at 3am, down bad.”
Origin & Attribution
African American Vernacular English, where "down bad" long meant broke or in a hard spot. Carried wider by hip-hop, then narrowed online around 2017 to mean thirsty or lovesick. Often tagged as internet slang; the phrase is older Black English.
2012
Young Scooter and Lil B each release a track called 'Down Bad'
2017
Meaning shifts online toward 'desperate' and 'thirsty'
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
national · 2010s
Spoken by
Black English speakers; spread nationally through rap and social media
$DOWNBAThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Rising14 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
88/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2012
in the culture
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
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Young Scooter and Lil B, both 'Down Bad' — January 2012
tracks · documented
■
+ Cite a sourceKnow Your Meme, 'Down Bad'
reference
See also