Defiance to thy power, thou rifted jawn! Now, by the loved heaven, sooner thou shalt Rinse thy foul ribs from the black filth of sin That soots thy heart than make me wretched. 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
First attested in the 1990s. Most likely an alteration of joint. Compare junt.
Meanings
(Mid-Atlantic, US, qualifier:African-American Vernacular, slang) Something; a thing; any object, place, or person.
"Just back from a tour in Australia, he was sitting at a table in the dining car with a group of friends that included members of the hip-hop groups Spank Rock and Plastic Little. 'This,' he said, 'is the jawn.'" 2007 September 23, Jessica Pressler, “The Bar Car is Rocking”, in New York Times:
Jawn can mean anything—person, place, or thing. Sometimes if we’re telling a story and don’t want people to know what we’re talking about, we’ll plug jawn in for everything. The other day I was at the jawn around the corner with the young jawn from down the street. We get to the jawn, right, and the ngh at the door is all on his jawn, not knowing I had that jawn on me. Man, it was about to be on in that jawn. 2013 August 20, MK Asante, Buck: A Memoir (Spiegel & Grau) http://genius.com/Mk-asante-buck-a-memoir-chap-1-annotated
"Then I started thinking of the Scenario remix and was like yo, that jawn was just as good." 2001, Steve Jackson, “Takin it back B/W BEEF”, in rec.music.hip-hop (Usenet):
(Mid-Atlantic, US, qualifier:African-American Vernacular, slang) A woman.
I had a few chicks that I messed around with but this one main jawn stuck out in particular. 2005, Krystle J. Nutter, Turned Out, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 1:
“Who? The jawn sittin’ in the truck wit’ choo? I think I know her.” 2006, G. D. McCrary, Guerrillas in the Midst, Papyrus & Pen Publishing, →ISBN, page 39:
Unlike most of these ghetto jawns who were wrapped up in all kinds of surface shit that didn't mean a damn thing, Muddah was like me in a lotta ways. She was from the streets but she had goals and dreams. 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 67:
MY boi in NY, when he first came to Philly, used to tell me the philly jawns were easy. 1999 July 16, “da One and Only Jazzman”, “Re: RapCity: UnderHouston”, in rec.music.hip-hop (Usenet):
“When it comes to condoms, put two on, and tomorrow night, find a new jawn.” 2009, Asher Roth, I Love College: