Entry · catalog no. 0407
mezz
/ /mɛz/ /mez
n. · Harlem, New York City · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
The genuine article; anything supreme or first-rate. Often 'the mezz.'
“That solo was the mezz — nothing touched it.”
Origin & Attribution
Harlem jive of the 1930s, catalogued in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary (1938) as 'anything supreme, genuine.' The word carries the name of clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow, whose standing reputation for supplying the best product made 'the mezz' a byword among Harlem musicians for the top of the line. A Black musicians' coinage, not a general-slang import.
1930s
Circulates in Harlem jive
1938
Listed in Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary
1940s
Fades as jive gives way to bop slang
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem, New York City · 1930s
Spoken by
Harlem jazz musicians and hepcats
$MEZZThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded88 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
40/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1938
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
■
Cab Calloway, 'The Hepster's Dictionary' — 1938
text · cited
■
+ Cite a sourceNamed for clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow, Harlem, 1930s
reference
See also