People from outside of New York are used to thinking of New York City as some kind of monolith. You might imagine it as one big city, forgetting that it’s divided into neighborhoods that each have their own unique culture.
Brooklyn is, without a doubt, one of the most well-known boroughs in New York City. Today, we’re going to take a look at common Brooklyn slang words and slang terms that originated in the borough.
If you’re from Brooklyn, let’s see how many of these you hear regularly. If you’re from outside of New York, you’ll likely learn some new words here…
Brooklyn Slang words (in Alphabetical Order)
718
Meaning:
- (Numerical): This is the area code for Brooklyn and some surrounding areas. If you’ve lived in this region all your life, chances are, these are the digits your phone number starts with.

A Hunnit
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Being completely authentic and honest.
- Example: “I’m a hunnit – I’m deadass dead right now.”

Aight Bet
Meaning:
- (Interjection): This one can vary based on the tone of voice you’re using. A lot of the time, however, saying it neutrally just indicates that you’re saying “okay” or “cool.” It’s also another way of saying you bet something is going to happen.
- Example:
- Person 1: “I don’t know if I’m gonna make it to your party later.”
- Person 1: “Aight bet. Maybe some other time.”

Baba
Meaning:
- (Noun): A woman of loose morals. Someone who sleeps around with a lot of people.
- Example: “Don’t date that baba, she’ll break your heart.”
Related Article: New York Insults

BKNY
Meaning:
- (Noun): Acronym that means “Brooklyn, New York.” If you don’t want to type out the entire name, you can just use BKNY.

Brick
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Extremely cold in temperature. And we do mean extremely – if it’s brick outside, you’d better be covered up.
- Example: “Make sure you wear layers today because it’s mad brick out there.”

Brolic
Meaning:
- (Adjective): If you hear someone calling you brolic, it’s a compliment. This means you’re muscular, strong, or fit.
- Example: “Marco spends all afternoon at the gym every day, so he’s brolic.”

Bucktown
Meaning:
- (Noun): A nickname for Brooklyn.
- Example: “Maria was born and raised in Bucktown.”

Buggin’
Meaning:
- (Verb): To freak out. Being in a state of intense anger, panic, or other emotional distress.
- Example: “Don’t listen to my kid – he buggin’ right now.”

Clachet
Meaning:
- (Noun): Classy and ratchet. This is a person, usually a woman, who’s trashy but tries to cover it up with fancy things, like nails and makeup.
- Example: “I know I’m a clachet, but I’m not ashamed of it.”

Clipped
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Something that is finished or over.
- Example: “This party is about to be clipped. Let’s get out of here.”

Cop
Meaning:
- (Verb): This has nothing to do with actual police officers. Copping something means you are acquiring something, normally through simply buying it.
- Example: “Where can I cop a pair of shoes like that?”

Cribas
Meaning:
- (Noun): Brooklyn slang for a crib or home.
- Example: “Her cribas is mad dope.”

Dayroom
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Dayroom is a word that’s hard to define and has different meanings for different people. In Brooklyn, though, it’s usually a negative word that means someone is being immature or generally annoying.
- Example: “I don’t hang out with him anymore because he’s been so dayroom lately.”

Deadass
Meaning:
- (Adjective): One of the most famous Brooklyn slang words. If you’re being deadass/dead-ass, you’re being dead serious about something.
- Example: “He deadass just jumped from the third floor. How is he even alive right now?”
Read More: New York Slang Words

Drid
Meaning:
- (Adjective): To be angry with or ticked off at someone.
- Example: “My man has been drid ever since he thought I was moving funny with his brother yesterday.”

Dub
Meaning:
- (Noun): Someone or something that you just don’t want to deal with. It’s boring, a hassle, or undesirable in some way.
- Example: “I’m being a hunnit when I say I don’t want to link with her. She’s a dub.”

Eats
Meaning:
- (Noun): A generalized way of referring to food overall.
- Example: “He needs some eats. He looks like he’s starving.”

Facts
Meaning:
- (Interjection): You say this to indicate that something you’ve said is the truth.
- Example: “I saw Beyonce while I was out last night. That’s facts, bro.”

Feening
Meaning:
- (Verb): When you’re doing something that’s over the top. Putting too much effort into something.
- Example: “You need to relax and take a break. You’re feening right now.”

Finesse
Meaning:
- (Verb): The ability to weasel your way into something or get what you want.
- Example: “I finessed my way into the club last night.”

Good Looks
Meaning:
- (Interjection): You say this when someone does something nice for you. It’s basically like saying thank you.
- Example:
- Person 1: “I stopped at the bodega to get you a bacon egg and cheese.”
- Person 2: “Good looks! I needed some eats.”

Grimey
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Another way to look at the word grimey is “lower than dirt.” If someone is grimey, they’re untrustworthy or they’ve done something to betray you.
- Example: “He’s a grimey, so I don’t talk to him anymore.”

Guap
Meaning:
- (Noun): If you’ve got guap, you’ve got money! This is a Brooklyn slang word for cash.
- Example: “If you’ve got the guap, I’ve got what you need.”

Gucci
Meaning:
- (Adjective): Being described as Gucci is a good thing. It simply means good, although you can use it to describe yourself as being okay.
- Example: “This is some gucci pizza, son.”

Hollywood
Meaning:
- (Adjective): This is usually used to describe someone who’s popular, famous, or otherwise too busy to associate with their old friends.
- Example: “I wish my bestie wasn’t so Hollywood these days. I never hear from her anymore.”

I’m Dead
Meaning:
- (Interjection): In Brooklyn, you say this to indicate that something is so funny, you just about died laughing at it.
- Example:
- Person 1: “Look at this meme my brother sent me last night.”
- Person 2: “I’m dead!”

I’m Weak
Meaning:
- (Interjection): See I’m Dead.

Jatty
Meaning:
- (Noun): A large and attractive butt. Usually, you say this to refer to a woman who has an appealing rear end.
- Example: “Dang, she got that jatty!”

Link
Meaning:
- (Verb): To meet up with someone.
- Example: “Give me your digits so we can link later.”

Mad
Meaning:
- (Adjective): This basically just means “really” or “very.”
- Example: “Be careful, it’s mad brick outside today.”

Moving Funny
Meaning:
- (Verb): When someone is acting suspiciously.
- Example: “Jane was moving funny the last time I saw her. Maybe someone should check on her.”

My Fault
Meaning:
- (Interjection): If you’ve screwed up, you say this to apologize to someone.
- Example: “I shouldn’t have called your girl a baba. My fault.”

OD/Odee
Meaning:
- (Verb): Although it can mean overdosing on drugs, OD usually means that someone is overdoing something.
- Example: “Our teacher assigning homework on the first day of school is OD.”

On Everything
Meaning:
- (Interjection): When someone says this, you know they’re being serious about something.
- Example: “On everything, you will catch these hands if you don’t stop talking.”

Peep This
Meaning:
- (Interjection): You say this to get someone’s attention, so they’ll watch something.
- Example: “Peep this – I’m gonna finesse my way into that shorty’s heart in just a few minutes.”

Ratchet
Meaning:
- (Noun): A low-class woman.
- Example: “Don’t waste your time on ratchets. You’ll never find true love with them.”

Slow
Meaning:
- (Adjective): This is like Dub. If something or someone is slow, you don’t want to be around it or them for any reason. It could be a boring event, or someone who’s always a pain to hang out with.
- Example: “I’m not going to the club later because it’s slow.”

Son
Meaning:
- (Noun): A friendly name you can use to refer to any guy. It doesn’t have to be your actual son – it can be a friend, family member, or even just a random guy you’re being friendly towards.
- Example: “Trust me when I say that ratchet is not worth your time, son.”

Spliff
Meaning:
- (Noun): A blunt. A joint of marijuana.
- Example: “John deadass rolled a spliff in class yesterday and the teacher didn’t even do anything about it.”
Sus
Meaning:
- (Adjective): A person or thing that’s suspicious or untrustworthy.
- Example: “The alleys in this neighborhood are sus. Be careful.”

Swerve
Meaning:
- (Verb): Avoiding someone or rejecting them.
- Example: “She mad swerved Enrique when he asked her out yesterday.”

Thirstbucket
Meaning:
- (Noun): A person who’s absolutely desperate for the romantic attention of another person.
- Example: “John turned her off by being a total thirstbucket.”

Thirsty
Meaning:
- (Adjective): When someone is actively behaving in a desperate manner in an attempt to attract someone.
- Example: “If you keep acting so thirsty, he’s going to swerve you.”

This, That, and The Third
Meaning:
- (Expression): When you want to skip all these small details and get right to the good part of a story. It’s like saying, “yadda yadda yadda.”
- Example: “I linked up with her; we went to the bar; this, that, and the third…next thing you knew it, I was running down the street trying to get away from her crazy boyfriend.”

Timbs
Meaning:
- (Noun): A brand of quality, durable boots worn by a lot of people in NYC.
- Example: “I copped a new pair of Timbs this weekend. What do you think?”

Treesh
Meaning:
- (Noun): See Baba.

Whack
Meaning:
- (Adjective): A person or situation that’s messed up.
- Example: “Your hair looks mad whack right now. Take a look in the mirror.”

What’s the Word?
Meaning:
- (Expression): This basically just means, “what’s up?” There are many other variations of this in Brooklyn. You can also ask, “what’s the mood?” or “what’s the vibes?”
- Example: “What’s the word? I want to know if the party is worth going to.”

Wildin/Wylin
Meaning:
- (Verb): See Buggin.’

Wocky
Meaning:
- (Adjective): See Whack.

Word to My Dead
Meaning:
- (Expression): This is another way of saying you’re being truthful or serious about something. It’s essentially swearing on someone’s grave. You can abbreviate it in text to WTMD.
- Example: “WTMD, I did not cheat on you last night. You wylin’ right now.”

Word to my Mom/Mommy
Meaning:
- (Expression): See Word to My Dead.

You Good?
Meaning:
- (Expression): This is like asking someone if they’re doing okay. It’s essentially just another way of asking, “are you all right?”
- Example: “You good, son?”

You Know the Vibes
Meaning:
- (Expression): Saying this just means, “you know what’s going on.”
- Example: “This party is a dub. You know the vibes.”

You Woulda Thought
Meaning:
- (Expression): You can say this to say no or indicate that someone shouldn’t do something.
- Example: “You woulda thought I’d give you some of my pizza.”

Yurr
Meaning:
- (Interjection): A loud greeting that you shout at someone. It’s like yelling, “what’s up?” or “hey” to someone you see. There’s an unspoken rule that you always need to respond to a yurr in kind.
- Example:
- Person 1: “Yurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
- Person 2: “Yurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

Wrap Up
Much of the interesting and wonderful slang used in New York City actually originated in Brooklyn. Chances are, you’ve heard a lot of these phrases if you’re from the area. If you’d like to hear how some of these words sound out loud, be sure to take a look at this video about Brooklyn slang.
Brooklyn isn’t the only neighborhood in NYC, though. If you want to see some more interesting slang words, read our list of popular Bronx slang words and their meanings.
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