jazzy

Etymology

It is formed from English jazz + -y.^[2][3][4][5] Jazz itself is of uncertain origin: it is recorded by 1912 in American baseball slang and of music by 1915,^[3] and the OED and Etymonline suggest that it was originally a variant of the slang jasm, energy or vitality.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to or resembling jazz music: 1915, in the Chicago Sunday Tribune.^[2][6] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1915–20 and calls it an Americanism,^[5] and Etymonline dates it to 1918.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Within two years of the music sense the word was used of anything lively, bright or showy, as in a 1917 caption in the Chicago Tribune;^[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang finds it in Variety that year for a dance number of "the jazzy syncopated type".^[7] In African-American slang it has meant sexy since 1918.^[7] From 1934, first in Melody Maker, it was also used in a negative sense, of music that was outmoded, corny or phoney, a sense now rare.^[2]

Timeline

• 1915 – relating to or resembling jazz music.^[2][6]
• 1917 – lively, spirited; bright, gaudy, flashy.^[2][7]
• 1918 – in African-American slang, sexy.^[7]
• 1934 – outmoded, hackneyed, corny (now rare).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the style or character of jazz music: The band played a jazzy version of the old hymn.^[8][6][2]
2. Bright and flashy; showy or gaudy: a jazzy silk tie.^[8][6][2]
3. Lively, spirited or exciting.^[2][7][3]
4. (US Black slang) Sexy.^[7]

Word family

• jazzily
• jazziness

Related words

• jazz
• snazzy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins