Word Confusion: Homey versus Homie

Posted July 18, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of 10 April 2021

It’s all the fault of homieness. I found myself wanting to convey the homey qualities of a story I had read, and I was thoroughly confused as to its proper spelling. Naturally, one thought led to another…and thereby a kingdom was lost…oops, getting caught up again…and I became intrigued with the possibilities of a homie having a homieness as well…isn’t that a curious concept…!

Word Confusions…

…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Homey Homie
Credit to: Urban Dictionary.com; Merriam-Webster

Yellow Cottage, Adare, Ireland, is Wolf32at’s own work under the CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

This thatch-roofed cottage is quite homey.


Five School Boys by Flickr user enixii is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Five homies of Da Ji Junior High School in Chiayi County, Taiwan.

Part of Grammar:
Adjective 1
Noun 2

Plural for noun: homeys, homies

Alternative spelling: homy

Noun

Plural for noun: homeys, homies

Alternative spelling: homey

Adjective:
A feeling of home

[Of a place or surroundings] Pleasantly comfortable and cozy

  • Unsophisticated
  • Unpretentious

Homelike

Noun:
Homeboy

[New Zealand; informal] A British person

[Chiefly U.S.; informal] Show the greatness of the kind of friend you are to another person

Acquaintance from one’s town or neighborhood

Member of one’s peer group or gang

[Slang, mainly U.S.] Short for homeboy or homegirl

Examples:
This space just feels so homey.

There is such a homeyness to that house.

He my homey, he take care of it for me.

He’s my homey.

He my homie, he take care of it for me.

Derivatives:
Adjective: homier, homiest
Noun: homeyness, hominess
History of the Word:
  1. 1856 is the first known use.
  2. 1929
Derived from homeboy which was first used in the early 1900s.

Some sites claim Blacks first originated the word while others claim it was first used by Mexican Americans in East L.A.

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Friends Central Perk, <https://visualhunt.com/photo/244483/>, by brad_holt is under the CC BY 2.0 with homie represented by Chris Brown, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/7079872727/9548612903/>, by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer, <https://visualhunt.com/author/965fe4>, under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Both are via VisualHunt.

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