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PlainSpell

jerk

/ˈd͡ʒɝk/noun, verb

jerk is spelled J-E-R-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jerk means “A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human body” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jerk is jerks.

How many letters and syllables are in jerk?

Letters4: J-E-R-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is jerk?

Jerk appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce jerk?

  • UK /ˈd͡ʒɜːk/
  • US /ˈd͡ʒɝk/

Jerk has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-jerk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with jerk?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as jerk from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹk/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of jerk

  • jerks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • yark
  • jerking participle, present
  • jerked participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does jerk mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A sudden, often uncontrolled movement, especially of the human body.

  2. 2

    A quick pull on something.

    When I yell "OK," give the mooring line a good jerk!

  3. 3

    USderogatoryslangA person with unlikable or obnoxious qualities and behavior, typically mean, immoral, self-centered, or disagreeable.

    I finally fired him, because he was being a real jerk to his customers, even to some of the staff.

  4. 4

    USderogatoryslangA stupid person; an idiot or fool.

  5. 5

    A lift in which the weight is taken with a quick motion from shoulder height to a position above the head with arms fully extended and held there for a brief time.

  6. 6

    slangMasturbation.

  7. 7

    slangAn act of satirizing behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.

    Jerk of the Year contender

  8. 8

    A dance, popular in Western culture in the 1960s, in which the head and upper body is thrown forwards regularly to the beat of the music.

  9. 9

    A rich, spicy Jamaican marinade.

  10. 10

    Meat (or sometimes vegetables) cured by jerking, in which it is coated in spices and slow-cooked over a fire or grill traditionally composed of green pimento wood positioned over burning coals; charqui.

    Jerk chicken is a local favorite.

verb

  1. 1

    To make a sudden uncontrolled movement.

  2. 2

    To give a quick, often unpleasant tug or shake.

  3. 3

    USslangvulgarTo masturbate.

  4. 4

    USslangvulgarTo satirize behavior that is, to an extent, common in a community, especially in circlejerk subreddits.

    This is jerking’s 9/11

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo beat, to hit.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand.

    to jerk a stone

  7. 7

    To lift using a jerk.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo flout with contempt.

  9. 9

    To cure (meat) by cutting it into strips and drying it, originally in the sun.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Jerk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtic, myoclonie, clonie, convulsion, spasme, tressaillement (sudden, uncontrolled movement)
GermanZuckung (sudden, uncontrolled movement), Ruck (quick, often unpleasant tug or shake), Trottel, Dummkopf, Blödmann (dull or stupid person), Arsch (unlikable person)
Portuguesetique, cacoete, trejeito, espasmo (sudden, uncontrolled movement), puxada, sacudida (quick, often unpleasant tug or shake)
Spanishtic, espasmo, estremecimiento, repullo (sudden, uncontrolled movement), sacudida, tirón (quick, often unpleasant tug or shake)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does jerk come from?

Probably from Middle English yerk (“sudden motion”) and Middle English yerkid (“tightly pulled”), from Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”) and Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”). Cognate with Scots yerk (“to jerk”). Related also to English yare (“ready”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after jerk