-izzle

Meanings

1. Forms hip-hop-sounding words, which replaces the word with the first sound of the word followed by -izzle.

Etymology

Popularized by rap artist Snoop Dogg, but first put to record by Frankie Smith's 1981 "Double Dutch Bus" is from a style of cant (esoteric slang) used by African American pimps and jive hustlers of the 1970s. The “-iz, -izzle, -izzo, -ilz” speak (which also uses an infix -iz-), similar in some ways to Pig Latin, was developed by African Americans around the period of the Harlem Renaissance, with hotspots of the speak in Oakland, New York City, and Philadelphia. It was partially developed as young African American girls improvised chants and nursery rhymes while jumping rope, with the -iz dialect serving to add syllables when necessary to maintain the rhythm. A similar -iz dialect has also been used by carnies (carnival workers).