Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock -- actor, producer, businessman, retired pro wrestler, co-owner of the XFL, and now, linguist.
In Dictionary.com's September update, 650 new words were added to the site and some 15,000 words were affected by the release, according to the site. One of them is "jabroni." Purportedly originated by the wrestler, the Iron Sheik, and made famous by the Rock, is now as official as it gets. The site updated words related to race, sexual orientation and internet culture. Besides jabroni, the site also added "amirite," "ish" and "janky."
Yes, we put jabroni in the dictionary. We assume @TheRock could smell us cooking up this update the whole time. https://t.co/kNdHhsLYrn
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) September 1, 2020
Here is the newly minted definition:
Like any good wrestling biography, the origins of jabroni are unknown, according to the site, and could have come from the Upper Italian dialect giambone, meaning "ham."
In squared circle parlance, though, the Rock gives all the credit to The Iron Sheik.
"His impact on my career has really been profound," Johnson said in a documentary about the Iron Sheik. ... "Now the word jabroni is connected to me. When a lot of people think, 'oh, jabroni, oh, yeah, yeah, it's The Rock's word.' No, no, no, no. It's not my word. It's The Iron Sheik's word."