In the 2000s–2010s, the word became loosely connotative of denoting overt confidence, defiance, fervor, or otherwise being descriptive of actions displaying boisterous and unruly behavior (similar to that of the male archetype "bad boy") when attributed to a person.
Its usage is recorded early as 1992 by Pimp C of UGK in the song "I'm So Bad" from the album Too Hard to Swallow.
"[8] In its original US sense,[9] the term referred to an uncouth woman, and may be a Louisianan dialect form of the word "wretched".
[10] The term has since been extended to have broader meanings and connotations and is no longer strictly bound by race or gender.
[11] In 2024, on the first episode of John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA, Ray J said he loved the word ratchet.
[7][14][15] The term has also been reappropriated to describe a mode of intersectional analysis associated with African-American LGBT culture.
[7] In December 2012, Beyoncé posted a picture of herself wearing earrings that contained the word "ratchet".