Jawn

Jawn is a slang term local to Philadelphia and, by extension, the Delaware Valley. 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

Jawn is believed to be derived from the word "joint" (as its proper pronunciation sounds more like "joiwn").⁴⁵ Historically, the city's black population migrated to the northern part of the city from Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas/Virginia, bringing with them a Southern dialect that carried words such as 'joint'.⁶

• In a scene in the 2015 Philadelphia-based feature film Creed, the character Bianca explains to Adonis Creed the meaning of jawn.⁷
• Skate Jawn is a skateboard magazine, founded in 2010 in Philadelphia, PA.⁸ The original name of the magazine was Skate Jawn Mag Jawn.⁸
• Philadelphia-native Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's documentary films Summer of Soul and Sly Lives! are each billed as "A Questlove Jawn."⁹¹⁰