homie
Pluralhomies
- 1A close friend, or someone who belongs to the same youth gang as oneself.
He's my homie; we've been tight since the third grade.
The gang's younger members were expected to back up their homies in any fight on the block.
UsageOften my homie, or as a friendly greeting: hey, homie. Used in casual talk between friends.
Similarhomeboy, buddy, dude, bud, dawg
Note
The same word covers a childhood friend and a fellow gang member, and only the setting tells them apart: in a story about a gang, the homies are its members; between friends, it is pure warmth, as in a greeting like "Hey there, Francis, my homie!"
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The greeting is reproduced accurately as an illustrative example, without attribution to a historical speaker. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A person from the same hometown as oneself, especially a friend or a man one knows.
At college in Atlanta, he was thrilled to run into a homie from back home in Detroit.
Whenever he flies home to Oakland, his homies throw him a cookout.
UsageBest kept to casual talk; in formal writing say someone from my hometown instead.
Similarhomeboy
Note
An early recorded use occurs in the spoken exchange between Ella Mae Morse and Don Raye that opens "The House of Blue Lights" (1946), recorded with Freddie Slack.
Less common meaning
- 3A young person who lives in the inner city.
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Origin
Formed as home + -ie. It is first known from Ella Mae Morse's improvised spoken introduction to "The House of Blue Lights," a 1946 song by Morse and Freddie Slack.