Entry · catalog no. 1027

ofay

/ /ˈoʊ.feɪ/ /OH-fay

noun · Nationwide, Harlem Renaissance · 1920s

✓ Verified

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.

1900s-1920s

Circulates in theatrical and musical circles

1970s

Fades from everyday use

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

Nationwide, Harlem Renaissance · 1920s

Spoken by

Black speakers, Harlem Renaissance era

$OFAYThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Dormant

126 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

1900

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

■

Etymonline, "ofay" etymology — reference · entry

submitted

■

Harlem Renaissance literature (Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston) — print · 1920s–1940s

submitted

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