copacetic, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

copacetic adj.

also copa, copasetic, copasetty, copesette(e), copie, copissettic, copus, kopacetic, kopasetic, kopasetee, kopasette

[? Chinook jargon copasenee, everything is satisfactory, esp. as orig. used on the waterways of Washington state. Other etys. include: (i) the painfully contrived phr. the cop is on the settee, i.e. the cop is not paying attention, which elided into copacetic and was supposedly used as such by US hoodlums; (ii) a word presumed to be Ital. but otherwise unknown; (iii) Fr. coupersetique, f. couper, to strike; thus striking or worth a strike; (iv) the Yid. phr. hakol b’seder, all is in order or, earlier, kol b’tzedek, all with justice. Note that HDAS dismisses all these and states ‘ety. unknown’]

(US) excellent, first-rate; OK, satisfactory.

1919		I. Bacheller Man for Ages (2008) 79: ‘Stout as a buffalo an’ as to looks I’d call him, as ye might say, real copasetic.’ Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly .
1921		Ethel Waters ‘At the New Jump Steady Ball’ 🎵 Copasetic was the password for one and all, / At the New Jump Steady Ball!
1925		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 285: Kopasetee: an approbatory epithet somewhat stronger than all right.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 32: Gee, that’s hot. Is it all copesettee?
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 3: I did copesette before I met you. [Ibid.] 69: ‘Where’s Tim?’ Tommy asked, blinking and relaxing. ‘I’m copesette, kid,’ said Cyclone Tim.
1931		N. Van Patten ‘Vocab. of the Amer. Negro’ in AS VII:1 29: kopasette. V. A term of approval. All-right.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 29: copissettic, adj. All right, okay.
1934		J.H. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) 24: You had to be a good judge of what a man was, and the English was copacetic.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 26 Apr. 9/7: Informers tell that all is not ‘copie’ between Bea Balls and Max Wells.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 142: Kopasetic — Excellent, tops, okay.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 44: Cops the bantamweight crown and everything’s copasetic.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 901: Copasetty! I’m rearing to go.
1953		L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 2: Of course you know the juke box is jumping real crazy and each and every tick of the tock every little old thing is much copasetic. [Ibid.] 4: The pool hall lends its class, guys so copus they gotta pass.
1959		‘Ed McBain’ Killer’s Wedge (1981) 81: Everything sure as hell looked copacetic upstairs.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 197: The news from Aix is strictly copasetic.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 227: The mimeographed lists of underworld slang [...] lexicons still defining such almost forgotten usages as ‘stool pigeon,’ ‘snowbird,’ ‘copacetic,’ and ‘moll buzzer’.
1967		in S. Harris Hellhole 218: We were kopacetic till her mother found out about us.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 240: It’s all copacetic now. All over now.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 29: Good bread coming in. Everything copasetic.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 182: Professor Calloway had a hard spiel and a kopasetic line.
1983		N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 241: Here I come boppin’ in thinking everything is copacetic.
1987		J. Ciardi Good Words 316: Copasetic. All in order. All Okay. Fine and dandy.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 148: The hotel is beyond cool. Jewels has plenty of shit set up [...] Seems copacetic to me.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 123: If you can get one of ’em to come in for me, everyt’in’ should be copa.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 68: ‘Copacetic!’.
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 10: It’s copacetic. He’s a friendly.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Now call Carter, tell him everything is copacetic’.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 118: Everyone’s happy. It’s copacetic. Stable.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 181: [O] of those guys who keeps things copacetic.