twerp

Betekenis (Engels)

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

Concepten

lomperd

ettertje

Synoniemen

twirp

twit

rude fellow

chump

dolt

dork

goon

lame

muggins

nincompoop

booby

shmo

square

thick

tyke

whippersnapper

dumbass

tike

schmo

boor

bozo

Uitgesproken als (IPA)

/twɝp/

Etymologie (Engels)

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”).