Entry · catalog no. 1088
plex
/ /plɛks/ /pleks
verb · Houston · 2000s
✓ Verified
1.
To act aggressive, test someone, or start a confrontation. As a noun, the beef itself. Clipped from 'complex.'
“I'm not tryna plex with nobody, I just came to chill.”
Origin & Attribution
Houston and greater Texas, out of the city's rap scene and the Screwed Up Click. A short, hard word — from "complex" — for the friction before a fight.
1990s
Circulates in Houston street speech
2000s
Fixed in Houston rap, including Z-Ro's 'Plex'
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
Houston · 2000s
Spoken by
Black Houston; Texas rap
$PLEXThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady26 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2000
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
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Z-Ro, 'Plex,' Screwed Up Click catalog
song · documented
■
+ Cite a sourceTrae Tha Truth, 'Plex'
song
See also