Entry · catalog no. 3309
gworl
/ ɡwɜrl /GWURL
noun · South / internet · 2010s
✓ Verified
1.
'Girl,' spelled and said the way it sounds in Southern Black speech, with a 'w' worked into it. A term of address and self-identification, especially in Black queer culture; also heard in 'material gworl,' a woman who is about her money and her luxuries.
“We stepping out tonight, gworl.”
Origin & Attribution
Popularized by Saucy Santana, a Black queer rapper from Florida, whose 2019 song "Material Girl" — the hook drawn out as "material gworl" — carried a Southern Black pronunciation of "girl" into wide use. The spelling caught on through TikTok and a 2022 Madonna remix. Often credited vaguely to TikTok, which erases Santana as the specific originator.
2019
Saucy Santana's "Material Girl" draws out 'gworl'
2021
Goes viral as a TikTok sound
2022
Madonna x Saucy Santana remix
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
South / internet · 2010s
Spoken by
Black queer and Southern speakers
$GWORLThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Rising7 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
64/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2019
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
■
Saucy Santana, "Material Girl" — single
2019
■
+ Cite a sourceMadonna x Saucy Santana, "Material Gworrllllllll!" remix — single
2022
See also