Entry · catalog no. 0058
oh word
/ /oʊ ˈwɜrd/ /oh WURD
interjection · New York City; carried outward by hip-hop · 2000s
✓ Verified
1.
A prompt to keep going, registering genuine interest in what was just said.
“They moved the whole office to Jersey. Oh word?”
2.
A flat, skeptical reply that quietly questions whether the claim holds up.
“I was there the whole time. Oh word?”
3.
Without the question, a plain acknowledgment that something has landed as true.
“Oh word. That explains it.”
Origin & Attribution
Black New York speech. It compresses word — an affirmation that what has been said is true — into an inquiry: is that your word? The formula underneath it is word is bond, from my word is my bond, carried into New York street speech by the Five Percent Nation, founded in Harlem in 1964, and from there into hip-hop, which spread word and word up nationally in the mid-1980s. Lexicographers mark both word and word up as originally Black American. Oh word is the New York interrogative branch of that family — not general internet slang, and not the coinage of any single artist.
1964
The Five Percent Nation is founded in Harlem; word is bond circulates in New York street speech
1986
Cameo's Word Up! carries the affirmation nationally, reaching number six on the Hot 100 and number one R&B
2004
A track titled Oh Word? appears on an explicitly New York record, fixing the phrase in print
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New York City; carried outward by hip-hop · 2000s
Spoken by
Black New Yorkers; broadly adopted across Black American speech and beyond
$OHWORDThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady22 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
72/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2004
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
■
Cameo, Word Up!, Atlanta Artists/Mercury
1986
■
+ Cite a sourceBeastie Boys, Oh Word?, To the 5 Boroughs (Capitol)
2004
See also