English Explanatory Dictionary

twerp

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A fool, a twit.
  2. A small or puny person; one regarded as insignificant, contemptible.
  3. A person who can be bullied playfully, or easily teased. Sometimes used as a pet-name (often for a younger sibling).

Pronunciation

/twɝp/ /twɜːp/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-twerp.wav

Word forms

twerp twerps twirp

Etymology

Of uncertain origin; originally British slang of the 1910s. In a letter, dated 6 October 1944, J. R. R. Tolkien mentions a contemporary of his at Oxford University T.W. Earp, calling him "the original twerp"; but no corroborating evidence for this etymology has come to light. Other suggestions include: a clipping of Antwerp (“type of racing pigeon that flew between Antwerp and London”); the onomatopoeic twirp (“imitation of the sound of a bird”); a dialectal variant of dwarf (compare Middle English dwerf); Welsh twp (“a fool”).

Synonyms

twit git twerk absolute zero assbucket asswipe badling blatherskite bugger carrion cipher cockstain crumb custron dandiprat doink dirtbag douchebag fellow fritlag fuckbucket geek good-for-naught good-for-nothing gooey hoon lidderon losel loser louse maggot ne'er-do-well nobody no-good no-mark nonentity nonce nought nowmun pelf pig dog pile of shit pissant punk puny quat ramp rinky-dink roly-poly scullion shicer shitheap slubberdegullion sparrow-fart streak of piss toerag truant twerp wankstain waste of space

Related words

derp twerk
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on T Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary