Entry · catalog no. 0354

kitchen

/ — /pending

noun · Nationwide · 2026

✓ Verified

The hair at the nape of the neck — the tightest, coiliest, most stubborn patch of a Black person's head, the part that resists a hot comb the longest.

“Get the kitchen, that's where it curls up the most.”

Origin & Attribution

Long-standing term in Black hair culture, documented in American regional speech since at least the 1970s with older roots. During the hot-comb era the nape became a battleground for beauty standards; the word carries that history and, more recently, pride in the natural texture that "refused to assimilate."

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide / diaspora

Nationwide · 2026

Spoken by

Nationwide

$KITCHEThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Rising

0 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

12/100

peak cultural energy

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

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

2026

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

@auntiereg

Atlanta, GA

@deltasoul

Memphis, TN

Contribute your pronunciation

Citations & Sources

■

Dictionary of American Regional English, "kitchen" — reference · 1970s

submitted

■

Wayword Radio / A Way with Words, "kitchen (neck hair)" — broadcast · reference

submitted

+ Cite a source