Entry · catalog no. 1044

dun

/ dʌn /DUHN

noun · Queens, New York · 1990s

✓ Verified

A close friend; your man, your right hand. A term of address, often said in place of the person's name.

“That's my dun right there — we go back years.”

Origin & Attribution

New York address term out of the Queensbridge houses, spread widely by Mobb Deep and the Queensbridge rap scene in the 1990s — a local reworking of "son."

early 1990s

Reworking of "son" in Queensbridge speech

1990s

Spread by Mobb Deep and the QB rap scene

2000s

Standard NYC address term

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

Queens, New York · 1990s

Spoken by

New York hip-hop speakers

$DUNThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Steady

31 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

62/100

peak cultural energy

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

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1995

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

@auntiereg

Atlanta, GA

@deltasoul

Memphis, TN

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

Ask Hip Hop, "Dun Language: Mobb Deep, Queensbridge" — article

submitted

■

Mobb Deep, Queensbridge recordings — music · 1990s

submitted

+ Cite a source