Wednesday, Merriam-Webster let off a tweet that let the world know they had their eyes on a certain jawn. 

According to NBC Philadelphia, the word "Jawn" has been added to Merriam-Webster’s "Words We’re Watching" list, which means the team at Merriam-Webster is seeing the word used more and more. 

If you're not familiar with the word, its slang originally from Philly that can literally be used to describe anything and everything. "Jawn" is a noun that can be singular or plural. It can refer to an item, a situation or even a person. The word has picked up traction beyond Philly in recent years, and international audiences were made aware of the word from the Philly based movie Creed back in 2015. 

While the word has not yet met Merriam-Webster's criteria to be added to the dictionary, it may happen sooner than later. In an article published by Merriam-Webster, they go further in depth about the use and origins of the word while explaining how it caught their eye. They also specifically reference its relationship to the NYC staple word "joint."

"But how did joint turn into jawn? It's likely because of the phonetics of Philadelphia, and possibly because of the way that the word joint changed as it moved south. The further north you get, the more /oi/ you tend to hear in joint. In Washington DC, this joint sounds more like jaunt; in Memphis, users report the spelling of this particular joint as junt to match its pronunciation. In Philly, that final -t was dropped, giving the city jawn," the article reads. 

We'll just have to wait and see if the word does make it to the dictionary, however, while this is one small step for jawn, this is one large step for African American Vernacular English (AAVE). 

AAVEPhilly