Why does 187 mean murder?
The source is a law. California numbers its crimes by section, and murder sits in the chapter on homicide, at the section that gives the slang its name. The code itself dates from 1872, when it was enacted as one of the state’s four original codes; the current wording of the section was last amended by a bill that took effect on January 1, 2024. Subsection (a) is the one-sentence definition quoted at the top of this page.
Police and courts in California refer to crimes by those numbers, so a homicide becomes a “187,” and an attempted murder adds 664, the section on attempts, in front. Wikipedia notes that Dragnet and other California police shows routinely called murders “one eighty-sevens.” Wiktionary records both senses: “police code for murder, in the State of California,” and, by extension, murder itself.
Dictionary.com says the exact coiner of the slang is unknown, but one of the earliest uses it found is “Deep Cover,” the 1992 single by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, who both grew up in California. From there the number spread through hip-hop, and Wikipedia lists newspapers documenting it as a synonym for murder in Florida, Wisconsin, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway. People say it digit by digit, one-eight-seven, or one-eighty-seven, never one hundred eighty-seven.
187 in songs, films and on police radio
You will mostly meet the number in music and on screen. “Deep Cover” was Dr. Dre’s first solo single and the first record Snoop Dogg appeared on, released on April 9, 1992. The 1997 film One Eight Seven, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson, takes its title from the code: a student writes the number in a teacher’s textbook as a threat. The TV series Detroit 1-8-7 used the number the same way.
In messages and on walls, 187 is a serious reference, unlike playful codes such as 143. Dictionary.com notes it is used as a noun or a verb for a killing, especially with a gun, and Wiktionary’s examples include gang graffiti aimed at a named police officer. So a 187 written next to your own name can be read as a threat of violence. For online messages like that, StopBullying.gov, a US government site, lists these steps: do not reply to or forward the message, keep screenshots with the date and time, block the sender, report it to the platform, and report threats of violence to the police.
Other numbers that are really laws or codes
Several numbers people search for are really section numbers or radio codes. The ones below have a source we could check; we left out radio codes that differ from department to department.
| Number | Means | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 187 | Murder (slang, from California law) | Section 187 of the California Penal Code. |
| 664/187 | attempted murder | Section 664 of the California Penal Code covers attempts; the two together name the charge. · Wikipedia |
| 911 | emergency | A pager code for an emergency. Dictionary.com lists it with 411 and 143. · Dictionary.com |
| 411 | information | A pager code for information. · Dictionary.com |
| 143 | I love you | The opposite kind of code: the digits count letters in words. · Dictionary.com |
Google also suggests searches for a tattoo meaning and a Bible meaning. We found no source for a separate tattoo meaning; a tattoo of the number carries the slang with it. The Bible has no chapter with that number, and we found no biblical reading of the number. The German rap crew 187 Strassenbande uses the number in its name, but no source we read says why, so we leave it there.
Decode a number, or turn a phrase into one
Type a number to see its digit sum, its factors and its day of the year, and whether one of our pages knows it as a code. Type a short phrase instead to get its letter-count code and its number in numerology.
The number
Example: 187
- Known asMurder (slang, from California law)
- Digit sum187 → 16 → 7
- Factors11 × 17
- Day of the yearJuly 6
187 in numerology and as an angel number
In numerology the reading starts from the digits: 1 + 8 + 7 = 16, and then 1 + 6 = 7. The slang word gives no second number here, because the code is a section of a law, not a phrase.
- The code. 1 + 8 + 7 = 16, then 1 + 6 = 7. Number 7: seeker →
- The arithmetic. 187 = 11 × 17.
The middle step matters in numerology. 16 is one of the four karmic debt numbers, read as the debt of ego: a self-image that has to break so a truer one can form. It reduces to 7, the number of the seeker and of study, which is why numerologists write it 16/7. That is a symbolic reading of digits and has no link to the slang, whose meaning comes from the law.
Angel-number sites cover it as well. Empowering Spirit reads the number as 1 for independence, 8 for prosperity and 7 for spiritual wisdom, adds them to 16 and then 7, and calls it a sign of abundance; it does not mention the slang at all. No older tradition makes it a sign. As arithmetic, it is 11 times 17, and also the sum of three primes in a row: 59, 61 and 67. Decode any number →
Questions about 187
What does 187 mean in slang?
Murder. It is the number of the section of the California Penal Code that defines the crime.
What does 187 mean in police code?
In California, a homicide, named by Penal Code section: a “PC 187.” Wiktionary calls it a police code for murder in California.
Where did 187 come from?
From the section of the California Penal Code that defines murder. Dictionary.com names “Deep Cover” (1992) by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg as one of the earliest slang uses.
What is the movie 187 about?
One Eight Seven (1997), with Samuel L. Jackson, is about a teacher threatened by a student who writes the number in his textbook.
What does 187 mean in love or as a twin flame number?
The slang has no love meaning. Angel-number sites give it one through its digits, 16 and then 7; that reading has no source beyond those sites.
What does 187 mean in numerology?
Its digits add up to 16, a karmic debt number, which reduces to 7.
Is 187 a prime number?
No. It is 11 times 17.
Sources
- California Legislative Information: Penal Code § 187the definition of murder; read October 24, 2026
- Dictionary.com: 187 (slang)slang for murder; “Deep Cover” (1992) among the earliest uses
- Wiktionary: 187police code for murder in California; quotations
- StopBullying.gov: report cyberbullyingkeep evidence, block, report to the platform; threats of violence go to the police
- Wikipedia: 187 (slang)Dragnet, and use outside California
How we made this page
The Number Atlas editorial team wrote this page with the help of AI, and a person edited it. What the number means comes from the dictionaries, code lists, the law and news stories named in the text, which we read on October 24, 2026; where we found no source, as for a 187 tattoo meaning, we say so. Every number on the page, from the digit sum to the factors, the root and the day of the year, is worked out by the same code that runs the tool, and the page does not build if a sum in the text or a code in the table stops matching. Found an error? Tell us.
Numerology is a symbolic tradition and predicts nothing. A number code means what the people using it agree it means.