Entry · catalog no. 1033
mellow
/ /
noun · Harlem ·
✓ Verified
1.
A close friend, a trusted running partner. Also, as a description, someone smooth and unbothered, easy to be around.
“That's my mellow — we came up on the same block.”
Origin & Attribution
Jazz-era Harlem slang recorded in Cab Calloway's 1938 Hepster's Dictionary, where a mellow was a good friend. The relaxed, take-it-easy sense followed from the same root.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
Harlem ·
Spoken by
$MELLOWThe Record · cultural traction
▲ 26 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
60/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
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
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See also