Meanings
alternative break dancing · alternative break-dancing
- uncountabledanceAn urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.
Hollywood made movies about breakdancing, dancers performed at the White House and the sky seemed the limit.
1998 July 6, Lola Ogunnaike, “NOTICED; Breakdancing Regains Its Footing”, in The New York Times
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From break + dancing. Influenced by breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) -- breakdancers were originally those who danced to a breakdown.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 霹靂舞 /霹雳舞
- 霹靂舞 /霹雳舞 (pīlìwǔ)Style of dance
Esperanto rompdancado
- rompdancadoStyle of dance
Finnish breikkitanssi
- breikkitanssiStyle of dance
French breakdance
- breakdanceStyle of dance
Hungarian breaktánc
- breaktáncStyle of dance
Japanese ブレイクダンス, ブレイキン
- ブレイクダンス (bureikudansu)Style of dance
- ブレイキン (bureikin)Style of dance
Korean 브레이크댄스, 브레이크댄싱
- 브레이크댄스 (beureikeudaenseu)Style of dance
- 브레이크댄싱 (beureikeudaensing)Style of dance
Māori kanikani keretao
- kanikani keretaoStyle of dance
Polish breakdance
- breakdanceStyle of dance
Portuguese breakdance
- breakdanceStyle of dance
Russian брейк-да́нс, брейк
- брейк-да́нс (brejk-dáns)Style of dance
- брейк (brejk)Style of dance
Spanish breakdancing
- breakdancingStyle of dance
Swedish breakdance, breakdans
- breakdanceStyle of dance
- breakdansStyle of dance
Cite this entry
breakdancing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakdancing
“breakdancing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakdancing. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “breakdancing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakdancing.
Source: breakdancing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.