Question 1

What does “hoe” mean?

Accepted Answer

A woman accused of, or jokingly claiming, sexual promiscuity; originally a clipped spelling of "whore." Used as an insult, as a term of address among friends, and as a self-description reclaimed with irony.

Question 2

Where does “hoe” come from?

Accepted Answer

Hoe and ho are written forms of the African American Vernacular English pronunciation of "whore," in which the initial wh- sound drops and the final r is not sounded. Etymonline dates the slang sense to "by 1993" and describes it as representing that pronunciation; it cites no earlier printed source, so the first-use date here marks documentation, not necessarily the start of speech. The word was carried into the mainstream largely through hip-hop and Black American speech, where it has long served as insult, address and, increasingly, a reclaimed self-label. When it appears in mainstream or online use stripped of that context it is sometimes treated as generic internet slang; its line of descent runs through Black English.