Entry · catalog no. 4174
jont
/ /dʒoʊnt/ /JOHNT
noun · DMV · 2000s
✓ Verified
1.
A catch-all noun for whatever you mean — a thing, a spot, a person, a track. Washington's version of the New York 'joint' and the Philly 'jawn.'
“That jont crank. / Pass me that jont over there.”
Origin & Attribution
Washington, DC's own worn-down "joint," smoothed by go-go and hip-hop into a word that can stand in for anything at all. It's the DMV cousin of New York's "joint" and Philadelphia's "jawn," and it marks a speaker as home-grown to the District.
1990s
'Joint' softens into 'jont' in DC speech
2000s
Spreads through go-go and DMV hip-hop
2012
Documented in the Washington Post's DC slang primer
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
DMV · 2000s
Spoken by
Black Washington, DC (DMV)
$JONTThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady26 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
45/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2000
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
■
Washington Post — "D.C. Slang: A quick primer" — article · 2012
researched
■
+ Cite a sourceCulture Trip — "DMV Slang: Washington, D.C. Area Phrases" — article
researched
See also