NYC slang
NYC slang is one of the most influential dialects in modern American English โ almost every word the rest of the country thinks of as 'Gen Z' was probably already old in the Bronx by 2018. Drill rap, Hot 97, and the city's distinctive AAVE pipeline produced a vocabulary that quietly powers most national slang trends.
This hub gathers terms tagged NYC in our dictionary โ the words that originated in or are most closely identified with the five boroughs.
The NYC lexicon ยท 9 terms
Bottom line
If a word sounds 'new' on national TikTok, check whether it was already in NYC drill or Bronx Twitter two years ago. It usually was.
FAQ
What is NYC slang?+
The vocabulary specific to New York City's five boroughs โ particularly the Bronx and Brooklyn โ much of which gets picked up by national TikTok 18-24 months later and re-labeled as 'Gen Z slang.'
Where does NYC slang come from?+
Drill rap, Hot 97, the city's distinctive AAVE pipeline, and the long-running Bronx/Brooklyn street vocabulary. Many 'viral' words were already old in NYC by the time they hit national platforms.
How is NYC slang different from general AAVE?+
A lot of NYC slang IS AAVE โ just the NYC variety. The borrowing direction is usually NYC โ national, not the reverse.
What NYC slang is most widely used today?+
Deadass (sincerity intensifier), fam (form of address), brick (extreme cold, or extreme anything), heard (acknowledgment), and son (address term for a friend) cover most everyday NYC speech.
Related hubs
Every Gen Z slang term we track on Slangora โ slay, no cap, bussin', situationship, rizz, brat, demure โ defined, ranked, and dated.
British slang words and phrases on Slangora โ from Cockney leftovers to TikTok-era UK additions, defined and dated by community vote.
AAVE-rooted words and phrases that have shaped modern American English โ slay, periodt, finna, bussin', no cap, woke โ with attribution and historical context.
Yas, slay, serve, read, throwing shade, the tea, kiki, mother โ the AAVE and Latin queer vocabulary that built drag, ballroom, and (eventually) mainstream pop.