Entry · catalog no. 1027
ofay
/ /
noun · Nationwide, Harlem Renaissance ·
✓ Verified
1.
A white person. An in-group word Black Americans used among themselves, sometimes neutral, sometimes pointed, letting people speak about white society without being understood by it.
“Watch what you say, there's an ofay in the room.”
Origin & Attribution
African American speech from around 1900 through the Harlem Renaissance, when it circulated in theatrical and musical circles. The etymology is disputed — proposals include the French au fait and a coded pig-Latin play — but the function was consistent: a private word for white people, spoken plainly within the community.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
Nationwide, Harlem Renaissance ·
Spoken by
$OFAYThe 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
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Etymonline, "ofay" etymology — reference · entry
submitted
■
+ Cite a sourceHarlem Renaissance literature (Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston) — print · 1920s–1940s
submitted
See also