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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

jerky.

Characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈd͡ʒɜːki/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɝki/General-American
  1. Characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.

    jerky flight
    jerky movement
  2. Having the behavior of a jerk (unpleasant person).

    US
    jerky guy
    jerky behaviour
  3. Anxious; jumpy.

    colloquial · dated
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English jerk Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English jerky From jerk + -y.

noun/ˈd͡ʒɜːki/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɝki/General-American
  1. Lean meat cured and preserved by cutting into thin strips and air-drying in the sun.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua charki.

verb/ˈd͡ʒɜːki/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɝki/General-American
  1. To cure and preserve (meat) by drying it, making jerky.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua charki.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.