Word.ws English Dictionary

derp

UK/dɜːp/US/dɝp/

derp interjection: draws attention to an act of foolishness or stupidity.

Interjection

  1. (slang) 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>
  2. (slang) 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)

  1. (slang) To act stupidly or foolishly.
  2. (slang) 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
  3. (slang) 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)

  1. (slang) A person who acts stupidly or foolishly; a person who derps.
  2. (slang) A stupid mistake, stupidity.
  3. (uncountable) 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 presentderps
present participlederping
past participlederped
pastderped
Noun
pluralderps

Plural of derp: 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

  1. Derousse
  2. Derousses
  3. Deroy
  4. Deroys
  5. DeRozier
  6. derp
  7. derpage
  8. derped
  9. derpier
  10. derpiest
  11. derpily

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.