Entry · catalog no. 2608
shook
/ /ʃʊk/ /SHUK
adjective · New York (Queensbridge, Queens) origin, nationwide Black vernacular use · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
Rattled, thrown off balance, or overcome by fear, shock, or surprise. Used to describe someone whose composure has cracked in the face of a threat, a piece of news, or an unexpected moment — from real fear on the street to lighter emotional jolts like embarrassment or awe. Distinct from simply being 'scared,' shook implies that the fear or shock is visible or has knocked someone off their game, exposing that their tough front wasn't real.
“Cardi B rapped, "Got all them girls shook," and everybody in the room knew exactly what she meant.”
Origin & Attribution
Rooted in African American Vernacular English as an adjectival past-participle use of 'shake,' distinct from standard English's use of 'shook' only as a verb form. The usage was carried into wide circulation by Queensbridge, New York rap duo Mobb Deep, whose 1994 single and its 1995 sequel built an entire street ethos around the word: the 'shook one' is the person who acts hard but folds when real danger shows up. Mainstream outlets and social-media glossaries have often credited the word's 2017–2018 viral explosion (via the 'shooketh' meme) to internet culture or Gen Z coinage, obscuring more
1994
Mobb Deep release "Shook Ones," building the term's meaning of someone whose fear shows through a tough front
1995
"Shook Ones, Pt. II" becomes a foundational New York hip-hop record, cementing 'shook' in the vernacular
2017
Comedian Christine Sydelko's 'I am shooketh' video sends the word viral outside Black hip-hop circles, into meme culture
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
New York (Queensbridge, Queens) origin, nationwide Black vernacular use · 1990s
Spoken by
Black American communities, hip-hop artists and listeners, later adopted broadly via social media
$SHOOKThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring32 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
1994
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
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
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Citations & Sources
■
They scared to death, they scared to look, they shook
song lyric, Mobb Deep, "Shook Ones"
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+ Cite a sourceGot all them girls shook
song lyric, Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, "Finesse" remix, 2018
See also