Meaning
Fine, satisfactory, or proceeding without trouble. Current, light-hearted, and slightly old-fashioned Regional use: United States.
Origin
An Americanism from the 1860s, probably built on hunk or hunky, earlier New York slang for being safe or in a good position, with a playful rhyming or reduplicative ending. Civil War letters securely show hunkey dora in 1864. The often-repeated derivation from Honcho-dori, a street in Yokohama, is chronologically possible but has no evidence connecting sailors or the street to the early uses.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- hunkey dora
- hunkey dorey
- hunkey dory
- hunky dory
Usage Examples
- The inspector found the wiring hunky-dory and signed the certificate.
- Everything looked hunky dory until water appeared under the floorboards.