Entry · catalog no. 2002
truckin'
/ ˈtrʌkɪn /TRUHK-in
verb · Harlem · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
To strut or amble with a bopping, finger-wagging step; the 1930s Harlem dance, and later just to keep moving.
“He came truckin' up Seventh Avenue like he owned every crack in the sidewalk.”
Origin & Attribution
A Harlem dance step born on the floors of the Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom in the mid-1930s — a shuffling strut with one index finger raised and wagging. The 1935 "Cotton Club Parade" put it in a song, "Truckin'," and dance contests spread it citywide. The word loosened into everyday speech for ambling or "keeping on" — a sense the wider culture later took up without the dance.
1935
Dance craze at the Cotton Club and Savoy
1935
"Truckin'" premieres in the Cotton Club Parade
1960s–70s
"Keep on truckin'" enters general slang
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem · 1930s
Spoken by
Harlem dancers
$TRUCKIThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Faded91 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
60/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1935
in the culture
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
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Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a source"Truckin'" (Koehler & Bloom), Cotton Club Parade — song · 1935
web
See also