Finna, sometimes pronounced or spelled as finta or fitna, is a shortening of the expression fixing to, like gonna is a shortening of going to.
Fixing to has a long history in Southern American English, and its sense of “getting ready to” is seen as early as the 1700s, where fixing meant “to intend,” “arrange,” or “make preparations.”
By the mid-1800s, the verb was settling into the phrase fixing to, widening in meaning from just “preparing to,” to mean “going to,” “intending to,” or “getting ready to” do something. It’s still used like this today in some Southern dialects.
Finna emerged from fixing to in African American English and is recorded in hip-hop lyrics in the late 1980s. For example, N.W.A.’s 1987 “3 The Hard Way” features the line “I finna kick this shit, alright!” and King Tee’s 1998 “Act a Fool” includes “I’m finna act a fool.”
