Meanings
- slangAfrican-American VernacularA casual greeting.
"What it is?" David greeted me.
1997, April Sinclair, Ain't Gonna be the Same Fool Twice, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 1813 more examples
Mrs. Franklin breaks her embrace, begins running water into the sink to wash dishes...What it is, baby. What it is.
1972, Odie Hawkins, Odie HawkinsA boy broke out of the crowd shouting, "Hey! Hey! What it is, brothers, what it is?"
2001, Chris Fuhrman, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 162"What it is, my niggaz?" Hollywood gave True a pound then jerked him in for a hug.
2007, K'wan, Still Hood, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 87Synonyms: what it be, what it do, what up
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseA casual greeting.
Origin
Possibly a combination of what up with how goes it and similar phrases. First use appears c. 1972. See cite below.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
what it is. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/what%20it%20is
“what it is.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/what%20it%20is. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “what it is,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/what%20it%20is.
Source: what it is on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.