AAVE
Americanabbreviation
abbreviation
Usage
African American Vernacular English is a designation used by linguists to describe a North American dialect of English used by some Black people. Like older names for this dialect, the full term is usually used only once or twice to introduce it in writing or speech; thereafter the abbreviation (AAVE) is used, with the result that the abbreviation is far more common than the expanded form, especially in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics, and sociology.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When she was at home speaking AAVE, she didn’t have to impress anyone; she felt most herself and connected to her heritage, she said.
From Washington Post • Aug. 17, 2022
A few weeks ago, Celsius owed nearly $650 million to the platforms Maker, AAVE, Notional Finance and Compound, collateralized by about $1.6 billion in crypto.
From New York Times • Jul. 15, 2022
AAVE, also referred to as Black English Vernacular or Ebonics, is a generalized term for a variety of dialects spoken by Black Americans.
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
“She chonk” becomes problematic when the word “is” is removed because such phrasing also is used in AAVE.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 20, 2018
If that’s illogical in AAVE, it should be illogical in Italian too—the rules of logic don’t change depending on what language you speak.
From Slate • Jul. 20, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
