jazz

English Online Dictionary. What means jazz‎? What does jazz mean?

English

Alternative forms

• jaz, jas, jass, jasz (all dated, used from about 1912 to about 1918)

Etymology

Unknown. First attested around 1912 in a discussion of baseball; attested in reference to music around 1915. Numerous references suggest that the term may be connected to jasm and jism.

Pronunciation

• enPR: jăz, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒæz/
• Rhymes: -æz

Noun

jazz (usually uncountable, plural jazzes)

1. (music) A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation.
2. (figurative) Energy, excitement, excitability.
4. The substance or makeup of a thing; unspecified thing(s).

   Synonyms: stuff; see also Thesaurus:junk, Thesaurus:thingy

   and all that jazz
5. (with positive terms) Something of excellent quality, the genuine article.

6. Nonsense.

   Synonyms: rubbish, wass; see also Thesaurus:nonsense

7. (slang) Semen, jizz.
8. A red-skinned variety of eating apple.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Arabic: جَاز (jāz)
• → Armenian: ջազ (ǰaz)
• → Bulgarian: джаз (džaz)
• → Catalan: jazz, džez
• → Czech: jazz
• → Danish: jazz
• → Dutch: jazz
• → Esperanto: ĵazo
• → Estonian: džäss
• → Faroese: djassur
• → Finnish: jazz, jatsi
• → French: jazz
• → Georgian: ჯაზი (ǯazi)
• → German: Jazz
• → Greek: τζαζ (tzaz)
• → Hebrew: ג׳ז, ג׳אז
• → Hungarian: dzsessz, jazz
• → Icelandic: djass, jass
• → Italian: jazz
• → Japanese: ジャズ (jazu)
• → Korean: 재즈 (jaejeu)
• → Latvian: džezs
• → Lithuanian: džiazas
• → Macedonian: џез (džez)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: jazz
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: jazz
• → Persian: جاز
• → Polish: jazz, dżez
• → Portuguese: jazz
• → Romanian: jazz
• → Russian: джаз (džaz)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: џе̏з

  Latin script: džȅz

• → Slovak: džez
• → Slovene: džẹ̑z
• → Spanish: jazz
• → Swedish: jazz
• → Tagalog: dyas, diyas
• → Thai: แจ๊ส (jɛ́ɛt)
• → Turkish: caz
• → Ukrainian: джаз (džaz)
• → Yiddish: דזשאַז (dzhaz)

Translations

Verb

jazz (third-person singular simple present jazzes, present participle jazzing, simple past and past participle jazzed)

1. (slang) To destroy; to ruin.

2. To play (jazz music).
3. To dance to the tunes of jazz music.
4. To enliven, brighten up, make more colourful or exciting. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
5. (slang) To complicate. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

6. (intransitive, US slang, dated) To have sex for money, to prostitute oneself.
7. (intransitive, slang) To move (around/about) in a lively or frivolous manner; to fool around. [from 20th c.]
8. (slang, transitive) To distract or pester.

9. (slang) To ejaculate.

Synonyms

• (to destroy): annihilate, ravage; see also Thesaurus:destroy
• (to play jazz music): cook, jam; see also Thesaurus:play music
• (to enliven): invigorate, vitalise; see also Thesaurus:enliven
• (to complicate): complexify, confuscate; see also Thesaurus:complicate
• (to prostitute oneself): sell one's body, turn tricks; see also Thesaurus:prostitute oneself
• (to pester): bother, bug; see also Thesaurus:annoy

Translations

References

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈʒas]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈd͡ʒas]

Noun

jazz m (invariable)

1. jazz

Derived terms

• jazzístic

Further reading

• “jazz” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “jazz”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “jazz” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Noun

jazz m inan

1. jazz

Declension

Further reading

• “jazz”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “jazz”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Noun

jazz m (definite singular jazzen)

1. (uncountable) jazz (form of music)

Derived terms

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʒɛz/, /dʒɛs/
• Hyphenation: jazz
• Rhymes: -ɛs

Noun

jazz m (uncountable)

1. jazz

Derived terms

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑts/, [ˈjɑ̝ts̠]
• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæz/, [ˈdʒæz]
• Rhymes: -ɑts
• Hyphenation^(key): jazz

Noun

jazz

1. jazz (style of music)

Declension

Synonyms

• jatsi

Derived terms

Further reading

• “jazz”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz. The compound jazband is attested in a 1918 copy of Le Matin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʒaz/ ~ /dʒɑz/

Noun

jazz m (uncountable)

1. (music) jazz (music style)

Derived terms

• jazz
• jazzifier
• jazzman

Further reading

• “jazz”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛt͡s/^*, /ˈd͡ʒaz/, /ˈd͡ʒɛz/
• Rhymes: -ɛts, -az, -ɛz

Noun

jazz m (uncountable)

1. (music) jazz

Adjective

jazz (invariable)

1. (relational) jazz

   Synonym: jazzistico

Derived terms

• jazzista
• jazzistico

References

Further reading

• jazz in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• jass

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Pronunciation

Noun

jazz m (definite singular jazzen)

1. (uncountable) jazz (form of music)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• jass

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz.

Noun

jazz m (definite singular jazzen)

1. (uncountable) jazz (form of music)

Polish

Alternative forms

• dżez

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʐɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs
• Syllabification: jazz

Noun

jazz m inan (related adjective jazzowy)

1. jazz
2. (slang) marijuana

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marihuana

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• jazz in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• jazz in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʒas/
• Rhymes: -ɛs, -ɛjs, -as
• Hyphenation: jazz

Noun

jazz m (uncountable)

1. (music) jazz (musical genre that emerged in the early 20th century in the United States of America, resulting from the fusion of elements from different musical traditions)

Derived terms

Further reading

• “jazz”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “jazz”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English jazz or French jazz.

Noun

jazz n (uncountable)

1. (music) jazz (music style)

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English jazz.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -as

Noun

jazz m (uncountable)

1. jazz

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Derived terms

Further reading

• “jazz”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

jazz c

1. (music) jazz

Declension

Derived terms

• jazztobak (“cannabis”)

References

• jazz in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• jazz in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• jazz in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)