Science, ideas & the artsEveryday life

jive

Jive, swing-era slang for jazz, its dance and its fast talk, appears in the late 1920s; a Wolof word for disparaging talk has been proposed as its source, but its origin remains obscure.

Weakest linkDisputed

The road to American English

From American English to English

From English to German

From English to Polish

From English to Japanese

From English to Russian

1500Wolof

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

Export “jive”

Embed “jive”

Save “jive”

Export “jive”

Embed “jive”

Save “jive”