"copacetic" meaning in English

See copacetic in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/ [UK], /ˌkoʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav [Southern-England] Forms: more copacetic [comparative], most copacetic [superlative]
Etymology: Stephen Goranson says "there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling "copasetic"] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, A Man for the Ages, and its currency increased by use in the 1920 song "At the New Jump Steady Ball". Alternatively, it has been speculated that it may have originated among African Americans in the Southern US in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps specifically in the jargon of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who certainly helped popularize it in any case. Many hypotheses about its origin (etymon) exist, all lacking supporting evidence: Possible origins. * That it derives from Cajun French coup esètique / coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”). * That it derives from a word *copasetti used by Italian speakers in New York. * That it derives from Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”) — if the Chinook Jargon term is not itself derived from English. * The common suggestion that the term derives from Hebrew הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) has been rejected, as has the fanciful suggestion that it derives from criminals' observation that they could go about their business because "the cop is on the settee". Etymology templates: {{cog|frc||coup esètique}} Cajun French coup esètique, {{m|fr||coupersètique|capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything}} coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”), {{m|it||copasetti}} copasetti, {{cog|it|-}} Italian, {{cog|chn||copasenee|everything is satisfactory}} Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”), {{m|he||הכל בסדר|everything is in order|tr=hakól b'séder}} הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) Head templates: {{en-adj}} copacetic (comparative more copacetic, superlative most copacetic)
  1. (US, slang) Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order. Tags: US, slang Synonyms: copasetic, kopacetic, kopasetic Derived forms: copa Translations (fine, excellent, going just right, swell): отли́чен (otlíčen) (Bulgarian), super (Dutch), extra (Dutch), zeer tevreden (Dutch), ok (Dutch), geniaal (Dutch), jees (Finnish), super (French), extra (French), génial (French), super (German), genial (German), OK (German), בסדר [feminine, masculine, plural, singular] (Hebrew), topp (Norwegian Bokmål), fantastisk (Norwegian Bokmål), supimpa (Portuguese), grozav (Romanian), отли́чный (otlíčnyj) (Russian), requetebueno (Spanish), estupendo (Spanish), genial (Spanish)

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for copacetic meaning in English (8.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "frc",
        "2": "",
        "3": "coup esètique"
      },
      "expansion": "Cajun French coup esètique",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "",
        "3": "coupersètique",
        "4": "capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything"
      },
      "expansion": "coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "it",
        "2": "",
        "3": "copasetti"
      },
      "expansion": "copasetti",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "it",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Italian",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "chn",
        "2": "",
        "3": "copasenee",
        "4": "everything is satisfactory"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "",
        "3": "הכל בסדר",
        "4": "everything is in order",
        "tr": "hakól b'séder"
      },
      "expansion": "הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Stephen Goranson says \"there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling \"copasetic\"] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, A Man for the Ages, and its currency increased by use in the 1920 song \"At the New Jump Steady Ball\". Alternatively, it has been speculated that it may have originated among African Americans in the Southern US in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps specifically in the jargon of Bill \"Bojangles\" Robinson, who certainly helped popularize it in any case. Many hypotheses about its origin (etymon) exist, all lacking supporting evidence:\nPossible origins.\n* That it derives from Cajun French coup esètique / coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”).\n* That it derives from a word *copasetti used by Italian speakers in New York.\n* That it derives from Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”) — if the Chinook Jargon term is not itself derived from English.\n* The common suggestion that the term derives from Hebrew הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) has been rejected, as has the fanciful suggestion that it derives from criminals' observation that they could go about their business because \"the cop is on the settee\".",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more copacetic",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most copacetic",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "copacetic (comparative more copacetic, superlative most copacetic)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Hebrew terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "copa"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1919, Irving Bacheller, A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, pages 69 and 287",
          "text": "[\"][…]an' as to looks I'd call him, as ye might say, real copasetic.\" Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly and with a slight cough. Its last word stood for nothing more than an indefinite depth of meaning.[…] There was one other word in her lexicon which was in the nature of a jewel to be used only on special occasions. It was the word \"copasetic\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, “Niki Hoeky”, in Enigma, performed by P. J. Proby",
          "text": "Molly-squally, Miss Molly / Yeah, everything copacetic, now",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work (and See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)”, performed by Tom Waits",
          "text": "Count the cash, clean the oven, dump the trash, oh your loving is a rare and a copacetic gift.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, “West L.A. Fadeaway”, performed by Grateful Dead",
          "text": "It’s a shame those boys couldn’t be more copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 July 5, Sam Borden, “For bellicose Brazil, payback carries heavy price: Loss of Neymar [International New York Times version: Brazil and referee share some blame for Neymar's injury: Spaniard's failure to curb early pattern of fouls is seen as major factor (7 July 2014, p. 13)]”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "Colombia and Brazil were supposed to be more copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, “Open Letter”, in Tha Carter V, performed by Lil Wayne",
          "text": "I keep it real, niggas better keep it copacetic",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 July 12, David A. Graham, “The Overhyped Feud Between Nancy Pelosi and AOC”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "We’re only a few months into the Congress, and there are plenty of opportunities for bigger gulfs to appear; partisans agree on most things most of the time because most votes aren’t on hot-button issues. Nor does it make sense to pretend that everything’s copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order."
      ],
      "id": "en-copacetic-en-adj-Bul~v5Vp",
      "links": [
        [
          "Fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "excellent",
          "excellent"
        ],
        [
          "OK",
          "OK"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "copasetic"
        },
        {
          "word": "kopacetic"
        },
        {
          "word": "kopasetic"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "otlíčen",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "отли́чен"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "super"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "extra"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "zeer tevreden"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "ok"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "geniaal"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "jees"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "super"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "extra"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "génial"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "super"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "genial"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "OK"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine",
            "plural",
            "singular"
          ],
          "word": "בסדר"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "topp"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "fantastisk"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "supimpa"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "grozav"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "otlíčnyj",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "отли́чный"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "requetebueno"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "estupendo"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
          "word": "genial"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkoʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "copacetic"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "copa"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "frc",
        "2": "",
        "3": "coup esètique"
      },
      "expansion": "Cajun French coup esètique",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "",
        "3": "coupersètique",
        "4": "capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything"
      },
      "expansion": "coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "it",
        "2": "",
        "3": "copasetti"
      },
      "expansion": "copasetti",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "it",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Italian",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "chn",
        "2": "",
        "3": "copasenee",
        "4": "everything is satisfactory"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "",
        "3": "הכל בסדר",
        "4": "everything is in order",
        "tr": "hakól b'séder"
      },
      "expansion": "הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Stephen Goranson says \"there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling \"copasetic\"] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, A Man for the Ages, and its currency increased by use in the 1920 song \"At the New Jump Steady Ball\". Alternatively, it has been speculated that it may have originated among African Americans in the Southern US in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps specifically in the jargon of Bill \"Bojangles\" Robinson, who certainly helped popularize it in any case. Many hypotheses about its origin (etymon) exist, all lacking supporting evidence:\nPossible origins.\n* That it derives from Cajun French coup esètique / coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”).\n* That it derives from a word *copasetti used by Italian speakers in New York.\n* That it derives from Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”) — if the Chinook Jargon term is not itself derived from English.\n* The common suggestion that the term derives from Hebrew הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) has been rejected, as has the fanciful suggestion that it derives from criminals' observation that they could go about their business because \"the cop is on the settee\".",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more copacetic",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most copacetic",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "copacetic (comparative more copacetic, superlative most copacetic)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English 4-syllable words",
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Hebrew terms with redundant script codes"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1919, Irving Bacheller, A Man for the Ages: A Story of the Builders of Democracy, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, pages 69 and 287",
          "text": "[\"][…]an' as to looks I'd call him, as ye might say, real copasetic.\" Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly and with a slight cough. Its last word stood for nothing more than an indefinite depth of meaning.[…] There was one other word in her lexicon which was in the nature of a jewel to be used only on special occasions. It was the word \"copasetic\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, “Niki Hoeky”, in Enigma, performed by P. J. Proby",
          "text": "Molly-squally, Miss Molly / Yeah, everything copacetic, now",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work (and See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)”, performed by Tom Waits",
          "text": "Count the cash, clean the oven, dump the trash, oh your loving is a rare and a copacetic gift.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, “West L.A. Fadeaway”, performed by Grateful Dead",
          "text": "It’s a shame those boys couldn’t be more copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 July 5, Sam Borden, “For bellicose Brazil, payback carries heavy price: Loss of Neymar [International New York Times version: Brazil and referee share some blame for Neymar's injury: Spaniard's failure to curb early pattern of fouls is seen as major factor (7 July 2014, p. 13)]”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "Colombia and Brazil were supposed to be more copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, “Open Letter”, in Tha Carter V, performed by Lil Wayne",
          "text": "I keep it real, niggas better keep it copacetic",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 July 12, David A. Graham, “The Overhyped Feud Between Nancy Pelosi and AOC”, in The Atlantic",
          "text": "We’re only a few months into the Congress, and there are plenty of opportunities for bigger gulfs to appear; partisans agree on most things most of the time because most votes aren’t on hot-button issues. Nor does it make sense to pretend that everything’s copacetic.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "excellent",
          "excellent"
        ],
        [
          "OK",
          "OK"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkoʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-copacetic.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "copasetic"
    },
    {
      "word": "kopacetic"
    },
    {
      "word": "kopasetic"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "otlíčen",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "отли́чен"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "super"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "extra"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "zeer tevreden"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "ok"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "geniaal"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "jees"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "super"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "extra"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "génial"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "super"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "genial"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "OK"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine",
        "plural",
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "בסדר"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "topp"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "fantastisk"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "supimpa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "grozav"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "otlíčnyj",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "отли́чный"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "requetebueno"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "estupendo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "fine, excellent, going just right, swell",
      "word": "genial"
    }
  ],
  "word": "copacetic"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (ae36afe and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.