Entry · catalog no. 7596
shade
/ /ʃeɪd/ /shayd
noun · Harlem / ballroom · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
Disrespect delivered sideways — an insult precise enough that it never has to be said outright.
“She complimented my wig by asking who made it "so brave." That's shade.”
Origin & Attribution
Harlem's Black and Latino ballroom scene of the 1980s, where shade grew out of reading as the refined art of the diss. Dorian Corey's definition in Paris Is Burning (1990) introduced it to the wider world; the internet took the word without the credit.
1980s
Current in Harlem ballroom and Black gay vernacular
1990
Dorian Corey explains shade in Paris Is Burning
2010s
Crosses into mainstream media and reality TV
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem / ballroom · 1980s
Spoken by
Harlem ballroom and Black gay culture
$SHADEThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady46 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
90/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1980
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
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
■
+ Cite a sourceParis Is Burning, dir. Jennie Livingston (Dorian Corey on shade) — documentary · 1990
submitted
See also