twerk
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /twɛɹk/, [tʰw̥ɝk]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /twɜːk/, [tw̥ɜːk]
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
Etymology 1
Blend of twitch + jerk. The "sexually suggestive movements, especially dance" sense was particularly popularized since c. 2000 by US hip-hop, and again in 2013 by singer Miley Cyrus.
Noun
twerk (plural twerks)
- A fitful movement similar to a twitch or jerk.
- 1898, William Brigham, “Director's Report”, in Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Museum, volume 1, number 1, page 42:
- "Not so the Freycineti, who looked me over critically, elevated his head crest, and giving his tail an odd little twerk, proceeded to hop deliberately up the limb like a sap-sucker..."
- (informal) A dance involving sexual movements of the hips and buttocks.
- 2016, Jacqueline Warwick, Allison Adrian, editors, Voicing Girlhood in Popular Music, Routledge, →ISBN:
- It was the twerk that bounced around the world in less than a day. Sound bites from reporters said, “Miley Cyrus’s JAW-DROPPING TWERK-a-thon,” the “twerk-tacular,” “twerk-and-tongue work,” in the “twerk seen ’round the world!”
Verb
twerk (third-person singular simple present twerks, present participle twerking, simple past and past participle twerked)
- To twitch or jerk.
- (informal) To move the body in a sexually suggestive twisting or gyrating fashion, especially as a dance.
- 2006, “SexyBack”, in FutureSex/LoveSounds, performed by Justin Timberlake ft. Timbaland:
- Let me see what ya twerkin with / Look at those hips
- 2013, Nichole Smith, “High School Students Suspended for Twerking”, in ABC News:
- Twerking, as it is known in the hip-hop community, is a hard-hitting, rump-shaking dance move that celebrities including Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have been known to bust out, but it has also gotten a group of San Diego high school students suspended.
Derived terms
terms derived from twerk (sexually-suggestive dance)
Translations
to move the body in a suggestive manner
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Etymology 2
Blend of twerp + jerk, found primarily in the 1930s-era works of Walter Dumaux Edmonds.
Noun
twerk (plural twerks)
- (slang, dated, US) A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.
- 1930, Walter Dumaux Edmonds, The Big Barn, page 207:
- "'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"
Etymology 3
Onomatopoeic, possibly coined by Roger Tory Peterson.
Further reading
- “twerk”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “twerk”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /twɛrk/
- Rhymes: -ɛrk
- Syllabification: twerk
Noun
twerk m inan
Declension
Further reading
- twerk at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
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