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Etymology and origin of the English word juke

Pronunciation

juke1 to dodge, fake out

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1834 Life of Andrew Jackson, spelled jouk
From
Scots jouk

Etymology

The word for dodging or faking out is probably an alteration from Scots jouk (“to duck, dodge”),[2][3][4] the Scots and northern English verb, which in America was also spelled jook;[5][6] Dictionary.com and Etymonline treat the spelling with -u- as a variant of it.[7][8] Etymonline dates the Scots verb to about 1500 and calls it of unknown origin;[8] the Shorter Oxford also calls it of uncertain origin, perhaps related to duck,[9] and Dictionary.com takes it as apparently a variant of duck.[7] The American Heritage Dictionary traces it to the Middle English verb jowken (“to bend in a supple way”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To dodge or evade something: an American text of 1834 says there is no way to jouk an accusation.[5][4] The Dictionary of American Regional English records jook, to avoid a blow by dodging, in eastern Pennsylvania in 1890, and juke, to hide quickly, in Ohio in 1896.[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb came to America with Scots and northern English speakers and stayed in regional speech, especially in Pennsylvania, for ducking the head, dodging and hiding.[5][6] In the South it also meant to skulk or mess around: a West Virginia text of 1904 speaks of people jukin' round where they had no business,[5] the date Merriam-Webster gives for that sense.[2] In sport, especially American football and basketball, it came to mean to fake an opponent out of position:[2][11] Time quoted a player in 1973 who liked to juke the tough guys,[4] and Etymonline dates the sense "to duck, dodge, feint" by 1971.[8] From the verb came a noun for a feint or dodge, recorded from 1977.[4] The Oxford dictionaries also give it the sense of moving in a zigzag.[11][12]

Timeline

  • 1834 – jouk, to dodge or evade, in an American text.[5][4]
  • 1896 – juke, to hide quickly, in Ohio.[5]
  • 1904 – juking round, to skulk or mess around, in West Virginia.[5][2]
  • 1973 – to fake out an opponent in sport.[4] Etymonline dates the sense to 1971.[8]
  • 1977 – noun, a feint or dodge.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. In sports such as football and basketball, to fake an opponent out of position with a deceptive move: The halfback juked two tacklers on the way to the end zone.[2][11][7]
  2. To dodge, or to move in a zigzag way.[11][12][4]
  3. (chiefly Southern US) To mess around, or to skulk.[2][5]

Noun

  1. A feint or fake, as by a ball carrier.[7][4]

juke2 roadhouse, juke joint

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1930 Richmond (Virginia) Planet
Borrowed from
Gullah juke

Etymology

The word for the roadhouse is probably borrowed from Gullah juke (“disorderly, wicked”), also joog, in the Gullah of the South Carolina and Georgia coast,[13][9][12][2][8] which is of West African origin.[13][10] The OED compares Wolof dzug (“to live wickedly”),[13] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster also Bambara dzugu (“wicked”);[10][2] Green's Dictionary of Slang suggests jugu (“wicked, violent”).[4] The Dictionary of American Regional English thinks the word perhaps came by extension from jook in the sense of a hidden spot or a stand of trees,[5] and Etymonline suggests that the spelling with -u- may have been meant to distance the word from its origins.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A roadhouse or brothel, especially a cheap roadside place with food, drinks and music for dancing: 1930, in the Richmond (Virginia) Planet,[13] usually in full juke-house or juke-joint.[13][9] Green's Dictionary of Slang first finds jook in Zora Neale Hurston's Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934).[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began in African American speech in the South.[4][8] About 1900 in South Georgia, jook was used for a nook in the woods or a small isolated stand of timber, and the Dictionary of American Regional English suggests the sense of a remote roadhouse may have grown from it.[5] Etymonline says the word is said to have arisen in central Florida, and dates jook joint to 1935.[8] From 1933 the verb meant to dance, especially at a juke joint,[13] and a 1939 speaker explained that jooking meant having a good time, drinking and dancing.[4] The places' coin-operated record players gave the jukebox its name: jook organ is recorded from 1937 and jukebox from 1939.[8][13] Juke itself has meant a jukebox since 1937,[13] and the OED treats the later use as a clipping of jukebox.[13] By the 1940s juke joint was in general American use.[4]

Timeline

  • 1930 – a roadhouse or brothel, a juke joint.[13]
  • 1933 – verb, to dance, especially at a juke joint.[13]
  • 1937 – a jukebox.[13] The OED's revised entry for the clipping dates it to 1940.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (US) A cheap roadhouse, bar or nightclub with food, drink and music for dancing; a juke joint.[14][13][12]
  2. A jukebox.[13][7]

Verb

  1. To dance, especially in a juke joint or to the music of a jukebox.[13][12][10]
  2. To play dance music in a juke joint.[10]

Word family

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  6. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  7. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Juke.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/juke. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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