derp
UK/dɜːp/US/dɝp/
derp interjection: draws attention to an act of foolishness or stupidity.
Interjection
- Draws attention to an act of foolishness or stupidity.
- I put chips in my soup instead of crackers. Derp.
- Now that I think of it, i'm surprised that you didn't make fun of his first name as well- 'How could you believe in a guy who has a girly first name?' derp- you are a fool.1997 February 25, Pete Treichler, “Re: Patrick Incompentence Redux”, in alt.sports.hockey.nhl.pit-penguins (Usenet), message-ID <Yn4ObEO00iV6A1SFx_@andrew.cmu.edu>#1/1>
- A placeholder for unimportant details, blah blah blah.
- Rob Schneider derp dee derp. Derp dee derpity derpy derp. Until one day, a derp a derp a derp a derp.2002 November 27, Trey Parker, “The Biggest Douche in the Universe” (14:28), in South Park, season 6, episode 15
- Me: Hi, remember me from SSG? Can I ask you about herping the derp?
- R1: Oh, hai Tom. Sure, that would be the derp that was herping blah blah blah...2011 January 10, Tom Allen, “Re: Expression of a woman's sexuality”, in soc.sexuality.general (Usenet), message-ID <add2880c-51f2-48ba-bcb1-4f9bff60dd58@l24g2000vby.googlegroups.com>
Verb
derp (third-person singular simple present derps, present participle derping, simple past and past participle derped)
- To act stupidly or foolishly.
- To make a stupid mistake.
- Wait, so we're allowed to have magic items from the start? I must of derped pretty hard.2011 August 22, Scion-of-Fenrir, “Re: 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign”, in Google Groups: /tg/'s Google group, 184e4b33-8013-4f8f-b312-ce498111076a@b34g2000yqi.googlegroups.com
- To have one's eyes pointing in different directions; to exhibit strabismus.
- Also, there was a Derpy cameo in this one, but she didn't have derped eyes.2012 April 22, Double Eight, “Re: Next Meetup”, in Google Groups: Windy City Bronies
- The eyes are wired to the same I2C address to prevent derping, but the three red mouth LED matrices are capable of displaying anything that fits on an 8×24 LED matrix.2012 October 25, Brian Benchoff, “Electronic demon costume is surprisingly unnerving”, in Hack A Day
Noun
derp (plural derps)
- A person who acts stupidly or foolishly; a person who derps.
- A stupid mistake, stupidity.
- The constant repeating of an opinion after facts have proved it incorrect, especially as a rhetorical tactic.
- English has no word for "the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors". Yet it is a well-known phenomenon in the world of punditry, debate, and public affairs. On Twitter, we call it "derp".[2013 June 4, Noah Smith, “What is "derp"? The answer is technical.”, in Noahpinion (blog), Blogger, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2013
Forms of derp
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | derps |
| present participle | derping |
| past participle | derped |
| past | derped |
| Noun | |
| plural | derps |
Origin of derp
Probably from dur, a British informal exclamation for “stupid” or from duh, an exclamation indicating faltering speech and assumed stupidity, glottalized for emphasis. Popularized by BASEketball (1998) and "Succubus", a 1999 episode of South Park. See also twerp possibly related to Welsh twp meaning fool. Derp was used in the movie College Rhythm (1934) to refer to a nerdy or awkward type of person.
Words formed from derp
Words that rhyme with derp
Questions about derp
- What does derp mean?
- Derp means draws attention to an act of foolishness or stupidity.
- What part of speech is derp?
- Derp can be an interjection, a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce derp?
- Derp is pronounced /dɝp/ (US).
Words near derp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: derp (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-derp.ogg.
Cite this entry: “derp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/derp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
