Entry · catalog no. 4422
hotep
/ /ˈhoʊtɛp/ /HOH-tep
noun · United States · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
A greeting and self-identifier among Afrocentric and Kemetic-minded Black Americans, taken from an ancient Egyptian word for peace or contentment. People say it hello-style, often as "em hotep."
“"Em hotep, sis, welcome to the bookstore."”
2.
As an insult, used mostly on Black social media for a man who claims Black consciousness but spreads sexism, homophobia or conspiracy talk; the plural "hoteps" and "Hotep Twitter" name the type. Some Afrocentrists object that the insult mocks African heritage itself, and a few people have reclaimed the word.
“"He keeps calling women out of their name and calling it Black love. Typical hotep."”
Origin & Attribution
The word is ancient Egyptian (htp), meaning peace or contentment, and appears in names such as Imhotep and Amenhotep. Its use as a greeting in Black American communities is tied to the Afrocentric and Kemetic movements: The Root (2016) traces \"em hotep\" as a greeting to Ra Un Nefer Amen's Brooklyn-based Ausar Auset Society and his 1990 book Metu Neter, while Dictionary.com, citing scholar Molefi Kete Asante, reports the greeting in use among some Black people since at least the 1970s. The negative sense grew on Black Twitter in the mid-2010s, with a 2014 post on The Visibility Project and 2015 Bossip coverage describing self-styled hoteps as misogynistic and homophobic, and the HBO series Insecure using the term in 2016. The meaning is contested inside the community: critics say it is earned by the behavior, while Asante and writers such as C.S. Sparrow argue that using it as an insult disparages African culture. The word is Egyptian in root and Black American in this usage; the archive records the usage, not an invention.
1970
Greeting reported in use among some Black Americans (per Asante, as cited by Dictionary.com)
1990
Ra Un Nefer Amen's Metu Neter spreads "em hotep" among Afrocentrics
2015
Black media and Black Twitter use "hotep" as a critical label
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
United States · 1990s
Spoken by
Black Americans in Afrocentric and Kemetic circles; the critical sense on Black Twitter and among Black millennials
$HOTEPThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady56 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
66/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1970
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
■
Jouelzy, "Are We Misappropriating the Term 'Hotep'?", The Root
2016
■
+ Cite a sourceDictionary.com, slang entry "hotep" (cites Molefi Kete Asante, The Black Collegian letter 1990, The Visibility Project 2014, Bossip 2015)
accessed Oct 2026
See also