Ebonics
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative letter-case form of Ebonics. alt-of, uncountable
"But with exotic dancers, binge-drinking, tooth-ripping, show tunes, time travel, ebonics and murder, it's an approach not usually seen onstage."
- 2 a nonstandard form of American English characteristically spoken by African Americans in the United States wordnet
- 1 African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). uncountable
"Buried among the jargon of the announcement was a mention of a name for AAVE, suggested by a Black scholar in 1975^([sic]) but never adopted by linguists: Ebonics. That word, concocted from ebony (a color term from the name of a dark-colored wood) and phonics (the name of a method for teaching reading), was destined to attach to the board as if chiseled into a block of granite and hung round their necks."
Example
More examples"Buried among the jargon of the announcement was a mention of a name for AAVE, suggested by a Black scholar in 1975^([sic]) but never adopted by linguists: Ebonics. That word, concocted from ebony (a color term from the name of a dark-colored wood) and phonics (the name of a method for teaching reading), was destined to attach to the board as if chiseled into a block of granite and hung round their necks."
Etymology
Blend of ebony + phonics. Coined by scholars at the Cognitive and Language Development of the Black Child conference in 1973 led by Robert L. Williams and published in his book Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks (1975). Considered outdated by some.
Related phrases
More for "ebonics"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.