ace boon coon

noun

plural ace boon coons

African American English

: a person's closest and dearest friend : best friend

…"He [Dylan] kept the family together, that was my ace boon coon," said Dylan's father, Horace Roberts.

—Gershon Harrell

My best friend, my ace boon coon, the Nettie to my Celie lives about two hours away from me.

—Jaye from San Francisco, quoted in The Root

Martin [Luther King, Jr.] was not alone. He had his boys with him, his ace boon coons. His inner circle.

—Earl Caldwell

You know these girls. They live down the street, around the corner or across the hall. They are your ace boon coon, your BFF, family. They laugh with you and cry with you. They're there through the good and bad, the ups and downs, through thick and thin.

—Gracie Bonds Staples

Word History

Etymology

ace entry 1 or ace entry 3 + boon coon "close friend" (rhyming pair from boon entry 2 and coon, perhaps echoing boon companion)

Note: The now less common variant boon coon is attested more than a decade earlier than ace boon coon.

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above