# twerp

> English word · Noun · IPA /twɝp/ · frequency rank #83,848

## Definitions
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).

## 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”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/twerp