Homie

Homie or homey (from "homeboy") is a slang term in urban culture whose origins etymologists generally trace to African-American language from the late 19th century, with the word "homeboy" meaning a male friend from back home. The words have also had similar use in Latino and chicano communities in the United States, starting in the late 1960s/early 1970s and continuing up to the present. As slang terms, the words have come to have variations in meaning, depending on local subcultures in a region, without the stability provided for dictionary-defined words. The term has also been traced to military slang.