Etymology

twerk

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Today it means: Synonym of twerking (“a sexually-provocative dance, involving the performer thrusting their hips back from a low squatting stance while shaking their buttocks”). Full definition →

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twerk · noun, verb1

Blend of twitch + jerk. The "sexually-provocative dance" sense was particularly popularized since c. 2000 by hip-hop from the United States of America, and again in 2013 by singer Miley Cyrus.

twerk · noun2

Blend of twerp + jerk, found primarily in the 1930s-era works of Walter Dumaux Edmonds.

twerk · noun3

Onomatopoeic, possibly coined by Roger Tory Peterson.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.