Etymology

jabroni

J8A1B3R1O1N1I1

Today it means: An obnoxious or contemptible person; a crybaby. Full definition →

Italian giambone
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The story

  1. Italian · derived fromgiambone
  2. English todayjabroni

Alteration of earlier gibone (also spelled jiboney, jaboney, etc.), possibly from dialectal Italian giambone (“ham”, also “self-important fool”). As a wrestling term, it was popularized by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who claimed to have borrowed it from the Iron Sheik. Prior to its popularization by Johnson, the term had also been used by Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and others.

Words from the same roots

Italiangiambone all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.