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juke¹ also jook

(jk, jk)Southeastern US

A roadside or rural establishment offering liquor, dancing, and often gambling and prostitution. Also called juke house, juke joint.

intr.v. juked, juk·ing, jukesalso jooked, jook·ing, jooks

1. To play dance music, especially in a juke.

2. To dance, especially in a juke or to the music of a jukebox.

[Probably from Gullah juke, joog, disorderly, wicked, of West African origin; akin to Wolof dzug, to live wickedly, and Bambara dzugu, wicked.]

Word History: Gullah, the English-based Creole language spoken by people of African ancestry off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, retains a number of words from the West African languages brought over by slaves. One such word is juke, “bad, wicked, disorderly,” the probable source of the English word juke. Used originally by African Americans in Florida and then chiefly in the Southeastern states, the English word juke (also appearing in the compound juke joint) referred to a roadside drinking establishment that offers cheap drinks, food, and music for dancing and often doubles as a brothel. “To juke” is to dance, particularly at a juke joint or to the music of a jukebox whose name, no longer regional and having lost the connotation of sleaziness, contains the same word.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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