boujee

What does boujee mean?

Boujee, also spelled bougie, is a way of describing something or someone as fancy, luxurious, or high class. Depending on context, boujee can be complimentary or disparaging.

Examples of boujee

I love going out to a boujee dinner and having a bottle of red with my partner. I love celebrating small business wins with my friends at a Friday lunch.
—Jessica Pinili, Threads, 1 Mar. 2024

Another way to be boujee on a budget is to shop at discount stores. Discount stores have many stylish items that you can use to mix and match with others you have created in your wardrobe to look fashionable. As a result, you will spend less money on high-quality items you love.
—Ryan Mutuku, Toku, 8 Feb. 2022

But when I got to the baby shower, I thought this was a bit much. You got ballerinas running around and she had classy society women in there. But we all know when you have the down home crowd and those that are known to be a little uppity, you look at them and think they are trying to be bougie!
—Kandri Buruss, quoted in Essence, 29 Oct. 2020

Where does boujee come from?

Boujee is an alternate spelling of bougie, which is shortened from bourgeois (and refers to the middle class and a desire for wealth, status, and possessions stereotypically associated with it). Emerging in the 1960s, this new sense of bougie originates in African American English, first used to criticize richer or more upwardly mobile Black people seen as aspiring to be middle class. It has since broadened to mean “pretentiously middle-class” or “overly lavish” more generally.

In 2017, the hip-hop group Migos released a song called “Bad and Boujee,” which celebrates being a newly rich and successful Black person enjoying a high-class lifestyle. The lyrics and music video feature women presented as bad (slang for “excellent”) and boujee, implied as classy without being snobbish. The song was a massive hit, and helped popularize boujee as a slang term for “fancy.” Superstar Megan Thee Stallion cemented associations of the word with empowered women (thanks to lyrics in her own hit song 2020 song “Savage”), especially Black women, and with their deserving to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.

How is boujee used?

Boujee (and bougie) can still be a put-down when someone is seen to be acting above their social status. However, boujee is now primarily used as an informal, positive term for when, say, everyday people treat themselves to something a little nicer or fancier than usual. So, put on your boujee best for a boujee night on the town—and live it up a little.