Entry · catalog no. 1390
groovy
/ ˈɡruːvi /GROO-vee
adjective · nationwide · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
Excellent; deeply in the pocket. First said of a musician locked so tightly into the rhythm that the playing feels effortless, then of anything that good.
“The band found the pocket and the whole set went groovy.”
Origin & Attribution
Jazz slang of the 1930s, from being "in the groove" — the worn groove of a phonograph record and the feel of perfect swing. Documented in jazz circles by the mid-1930s, decades before the 1960s counterculture adopted it as its own.
1932
"In a groove" in a musical sense, Melody Maker, Oct
1937
GROOVEY defined in American Speech, Feb: a state of mind conducive to good playing
1967
Absorbed into counterculture speech; out of currency by 1980
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
nationwide · 1930s
Spoken by
Swing musicians; later hipsters, then 1960s counterculture
$GROOVYThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded89 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
90/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1937
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
Wordorigins.org, "groove / in the groove / groovy" — reference
submitted
■
+ Cite a sourceAmerican Speech — linguistics journal · 1937
submitted
See also