twerk

American  

[twurk] / twɜrk /

verb (used without object)

1. to dance by thrusting or shaking the buttocks and hips while in a squatting or bent-over position, often to music originating in African American and Caribbean culture.

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verb (used with object)

1. to thrust or shake (the buttocks or hips) while in a squatting or bent-over position as part of a dance often done to music originating in African American and Caribbean culture.

noun

1. a dance or dance move involving thrusting or shaking the buttocks and hips while squatting or bent over, often done to music originating in African American and Caribbean culture.

Etymology

Origin of twerk

An Americanism first recorded in 1990–95; possibly an alteration of work, as in work it “to show off one's body through movement or posing”; may be related to the earlier (1820–30) sense “a twisting or jerking movement,” from tw(ist) ( def. ) + (j)erk ¹

Example Sentences

Dressed in her signature tennis skirt and knee-high boots, her strawberry-blond curls bouncing with every twerk, Ice Spice arrived at Flog Gnaw the day after she picked up four Grammy nominations, including a nod for the coveted best new artist prize.

From Los Angeles Times

There are also African dance and twerk yoga classes, and the Black American Music Series features performances every second Sunday of the month.

From New York Times

He can also crack wise, twerk and land somersaults, because we are in the wacky land of pantomime, not the 6 o’clock news.

From New York Times

Last year, in the heat of Covid, the Academy lost its darn mind and did the Oscars by making Glenn Close twerk in a train station.

From The Guardian

She pops her hips energetically to Usher’s “Yeah!,” then collapses into a giggle and tells the camera, “You can’t twerk with MS.”

From Washington Post