hip-hop

UK/ˈhɪp.hɒp//ˈhɪp.hɑp/

hip-hop noun: an African-American urban youth culture based on rap music, breakdancing etc.

Noun

hip-hop (uncountable)

An African-American urban youth culture based on rap music, breakdancing etc.
- "...not knowning as they strolled through the doors of the community center near Bambaataa's mother's apartment that they were writing musical history. Among them was an MC named Lovebug Starski, who was said to utter the phrase 'hip-hop' between breaks in time."2007, James McBide, Hip-Hop Planet, National Geographic (April 2007), 106
A form of popular and dance music featuring strong percussion and a powerful rhythm, usually accompanied by rapping.
- Even though Houston’s moment was already fading by the late 2000s, the city’s hip-hop culture proved to be endlessly portable and disseminatable.2015 August 9, Jon Caramanica, “Pimp C in a Journalist’s Back Pages”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Nov 2021

hip-hop (third-person singular simple present hip-hops, present participle hip-hopping, simple past and past participle hip-hopped)

(informal, intransitive, transitive) To move by hopping or with a hopping motion.
- Placing the hoops in this position makes skirts hip hop with a swirl.1939 July 14, The West Australian, Perth, page 6, column 4
- I have a bunny and he goes hip hop, I often wonder if he cannot stop.1951 April 14, The Advocate, Burnie, page 17, column 4
(informal, intransitive, transitive) To perform hip-hop music.
- I'm not entirely sure who in WCW felt like a bunch of hip-hopping rappers would get cheered in a company based mainly in the south (especially with a country band stable on the other side), but everything's a good idea in theory.2020, New Jack, Jason Norman, New Jack: Memoir of a Pro Wrestling Extremist, page 108

Noun
alternative form	hiphop
alternative form	hip hop
Verb
third-person singular present	hip-hops
present participle	hip-hopping
past participle	hip-hopped
past	hip-hopped

Reduplication of hop.

What does hip-hop mean?: Hip-hop means an African-American urban youth culture based on rap music, breakdancing etc.
What is hip-hop in Marathi?: Hip-hop in Marathi is हिप-हॉप (hip-hŏp). See Hip-hop meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is hip-hop?: Hip-hop can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hip-hop?: Hip-hop is pronounced /ˈhɪp.hɒp/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: hip-hop (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-hip-hop.wav.

Cite this entry: “hip-hop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hip-hop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.