Phat isn’t a shortening of a salacious phrase applying to the physical attributes of women; it is instead a deliberate misspelling of
fat, a word that has for centuries carried in the English language (and some others) a meaning of “
rich, abundant, or desirable.” Phat was accepted purely on its own merits, in the same manner that "
boss" or "cool" are understood as general terms of approval without anyone’
s attempting to justify their existences as acronyms for “bitchin’ overpriced success stuff” or “crazy outlook on life.”
Phat’s earliest print sighting dates to a Time magazine entry of 2
August 1963 identifying it as “Negro argot,” with “mellow, phat, stone, and
boss” all being “general adjectives of approval.”