crew the group of friends one hangs out with. Also known as a posse.
crib one's home or bedroom.
dawg see dog.
def good; excellent.
def jam a great song; album; CD, etc.
dis to disrespect or insult.
do to have sex with someone.
dog to insult someone. Also, a term of endearment for a friend. Also, one who cheats on his girlfriend. Also known as dawg.
dope great; excellent. Also, drugs.
down with to agree or be friends with.
drive-by a gang activity in which a person is shot from a passing car.
drop to hit someone hard enough to knock the person down or unconscious.
dub a wheel rim.
feel me understand me; feel my presence. flossin' showing off one's wealth. fly attractive; beautiful. foo short for fool.
forty a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. fo' sheazy for sure. fo' shizzle for real.
fo' shizzle, my nizzle for sure, my nigger. fo' sho' for sure.
freak a woman who is sexually attractive, promiscuous, or sexually aggressive. Also, to have sexual relations.
freak dancing sexually explicit dancing.
freak train a line of dancers performing sexually suggestive moves.
freestyle ad-libbed rap lyrics.
fresh good; cool.
frontin' lying.
fugly extremely ugly.
game charm and conversational skills, especially when trying to win a female's attention and affections.
gangbang to commit crimes as part of a gang.
gangsta a gangster; gang member.
gangsta rap rap music with violent or gangster- related lyrics.
ghetto-fabulous fabulous. grill teeth; also, one's smile. haten' being mean and disrespectful. hater a racist. ho short for whore.
homeboy a male friend from one's neighborhood. homegirl a female friend from one's neighborhood. homey short for homeboy or homegirl. hood neighborhood.
hoodrat an undesirable person from the hood. ill cool; great.
it's all good it's all acceptable and fine.
jack to rob someone; to steal.
keep it real be sincere; don't be phoney.
kickin' it hanging out with a friend or friends.
krunk totally wild and exciting.
lowrider a car that rides very low to the ground, due to altered suspension. Also, one who drives this kind of car.
mack to make a pass at; to flirt. Also, to take advantage of.
my nizzle euphemism for my nigger.
off the chain exciting; excellent. Also known as off the hook.
phat rich; excellent.
player one who is promiscuous; a playboy. Also known as playa.
poser one who tries to appear as someone he or she is not.
posse see crew. props praise. punk to steal or take.
represent to perform at one's best; to do one's family and friends proud.
scrub someone with low status.
shiznit euphemism for shit.
shizzle, the something exceptional or excellent; the bomb.
skank a nasty, promiscuous, or unclean female. slammin' awesome; excellent.
smak, talkin' talking in derogatory, insulting fashion.
step off get back; leave it alone. stoked happy and excited. 'sup? see wazzup?
triflin' cheating on one's boyfriend or girlfriend. Also, backstabbing.
trippin' out of one's mind; hallucinating, as if on drugs; irrational.
wack crazy.
wazzup? what's up?
voice and phonetics
affricate a consonant produced by the tongue and hard palate, such as the "ch" sound in chicken, the "tch" sound in match, and the "dge" sound in judge.
alveolar sound a sound produced by the tip of the tongue touching the area of the alveolar ride, such as s, t, and d.
articulate to speak or pronounce clearly.
brogue an Irish accent; any strong accent.
burr a trilling of the letter r, as in Scottish pronunciation. To speak with a burr.
cacology improper pronunciation of words.
cadence the measured flow of one's speech; modulation.
consonant a speech sound produced by teeth, tongue, or lips, as distinguished from vowel sounds.
dental produced by the tip of the tongue near the front teeth, such as the letter d.
dentiloquist one who speaks with clenched teeth.
dialect the manner of speech, idiom, and pronunciation of a region, as in a southern dialect.
elocution the manner of speaking, especially public speaking.
enunciate to articulate or pronounce words clearly.
fricative a consonant produced by forcing air through a partially closed passage, such as f, v, s, z, sh, th.
glossolalia nonsensical, incoherent speech, especially that associated with the mentally ill.
inflection a varying of tone or pitch.
intone to chant; to speak in a singing voice, as a prayer; to speak in a monotone.
labial formed by closing or partially closing the lips, such as b, m, w.
labialize to round a vowel.
labiodental produced by the lips and teeth, such as the letters f and v.
labionasal produced by the lips and nose together.
labiovelar combining labial and velar sounds, as the word "quick."
lallation lulling sounds, as with a baby; baby sounds.
linguistics the science of language and speech.
mellifluous of a tone of voice, rich, smooth, or resonant.
modulation the variation of volume, tone, or pitch; a variation of inflection.
monotone a tone of voice lacking inflection or expression.
morpheme the smallest meaningful unit of language.
nasal resonating through the nasal activities, as the pronunciation of the suffix "ing" or the letter n.
orotund forceful and resonant.
paralinguistics all forms of communication that accompany speech, as in tone of voice, speech tempo, gestures, facial expressions.
phoneme the smallest unit of speech.
plosive designating a burst of air, as produced by pronouncing the letter p.
sibilant suggestive of a hissing sound, as in s, sh, z, zh. sibilate to hiss.
singsong a rising and falling of voice pitch, often used when taunting another.