copacetic
/kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/
"copacetic" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“copacetic” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | copacetic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “copacetic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for copacetic is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order.".
copacetic doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Stephen Goranson says "there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling copasetic] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, … The correct English form is copacetic, spelled C-O-P-A-C-E-T-I-C.
Definition
- 1Fine, excellent, OK, in excellent order.
Etymology
Stephen Goranson says "there is good reason to think that Irving Bacheller invented the word [with spelling copasetic] for a fictional character with a private vocabulary in his best-selling and later-serialized 1919 book about Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, A Man for the Ages", and its currency increased by use in the 1920 song "At the New Jump Steady Ball" (see quotation below). Alternatively, it has been speculated that it may have originated among African Americans in the Southern US in the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps specifically in the jargon of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who certainly helped popularize it in any case. Many hypotheses about its origin (etymon) exist, all lacking supporting evidence: Possible origins * That it derives from Cajun French coup esètique / coupersètique (“capable of being coped with successfully; able to cope with anything and everything”). * That it derives from a word *copasetti used by Italian speakers in New York. * That it derives from Chinook Jargon copasenee (“everything is satisfactory”) — if the Chinook Jargon term is not itself derived from English. * The common suggestion that the term derives from Hebrew הכל בסדר (hakól b'séder, “everything is in order”) has been rejected, as has the fanciful suggestion that it derives from criminals' observation that they could go about their business because "the cop is on the settee".
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “copacetic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-P-A-C-E-T-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəʊ.pəˈsɛt.ɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.