Entry · catalog no. 7814

homie

/ /ˈhoʊmi/ /HOH-mee

noun · U.S. South, carried into Detroit, Chicago, and other Northern and Western cities · 1940s

✓ Verified

A trusted friend or close associate — someone from your neighborhood, crew, or inner circle whose loyalty is assumed rather than earned fresh each time. Carries warmth and familiarity; used as both a term of address and a way of naming who belongs to your circle.

“"I got you, homie — you already know that."”

Origin & Attribution

Clipped from 'homeboy,' a term that took root among Black Southerners who carried it north and west during the Great Migration, using it to name someone who shared your hometown or region back home. The shortened 'homie'/'homey' form crystallized in African American vernacular speech by the 1970s before hip-hop carried it into national and eventually global use in the 1980s and '90s.

1940s

'Homeboy' spreads among Black Southern migrants describing someone from the same hometown, especially in cities like Detroit.

1970s

Clipped form 'homie'/'homey' takes hold in African American vernacular speech.

1987

N.W.A's 'Boyz-n-the-Hood' and related West Coast rap put 'homeboy'/'homie' before a national audience.

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

The South

U.S. South, carried into Detroit, Chicago, and other Northern and Western cities · 1940s

Spoken by

Black Americans nationwide; entered wider American speech through hip-hop culture and Black film and music of the 1980s–

$HOMIEThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Enduring

86 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

92/100

peak cultural energy

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

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1940

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

@nolakid

New Orleans, LA

@htxdri

Houston, TX

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

also homey, by 1970s, slang, short for homeboy

etymology reference, 2026

■

I had first heard 'Homeboy' used by black migrants from the South who had moved to the North

personal essay, 2023

■

the term was being widely used in Detroit and other Eastern cities

personal essay, 2023

■

so I went to a spot where ma' homeboys chill

song lyric, 1987

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