Jawn is a slang term local to Philadelphia and, by extension, the Philadelphia metropolitan area. It is a placeholder word that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific word/name. Jawn is a context-dependent substitute noun; a noun that substitutes for other nouns. [1] Jawn can be singular or plural. Examples include: "These jawns are expensive!", [2] "Pass me that jawn.", "Slow it down, jawn.", "That new jawn.", "This jawn is packed." [3]
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Jawn is believed to be derived from the word "joint" (as its proper pronunciation sounds more like "joiwn"). The term began in the past as joint , a place where bones meet; from this came a term to refer to a place where criminals meet; this came to any place (see Glossary of jive talk); in New York hip-hop this came to mean any thing; and in Philadelphia this was used broadly and pronounced as jawn. [4] [5]
