Word.ws English Dictionary

jerky

Syllables: jer·ky/ˈd͡ʒɜːki/US/ˈd͡ʒɝki/

jerky adjective: characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.

Adjective

jerky (comparative jerkier, superlative jerkiest)

  1. Characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.
    • jerky flight
    • jerky movement
    Synonyms:
    jittery
  2. (US) Having the behavior of a jerk (unpleasant person).
    • jerky guy
    • jerky behaviour
  3. (colloquial, dated) Anxious; jumpy.
    • Marrabel found an ideal crevice for his loot: tight, hidden, accessible. […] His only desire was to recover the coin and get away. But the lady seemed set here, and Marrabel, ignorant of her intentions, made his first bad move. He claimed the chair, fully expecting to be given it at once. […] In...1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

Noun

jerky (countable and uncountable, plural jerkies)

  1. Lean meat cured and preserved by cutting into thin strips and air-drying in the sun.

Verb

jerky (third-person singular simple present jerkies, present participle jerkying, simple past and past participle jerkied)

  1. (transitive) To cure and preserve (meat) by drying it, making jerky.
    Synonyms:
    jerk

jerky meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam

jerky in Tamil

காய்ந்தஇறைச்சி

jerky in Urdu

جھٹکے والا

jerky in Telugu

జెర్కీ, జర్కీ

jerky in Malayalam

തെറിച്ചു തെറിച്ചു നീങ്ങുന്ന, ഞെട്ടിക്കുലുങ്ങുന്ന, കുലുക്കമുള്ള
More languagesFewer languages
jerky in Kannada
ನಿಂತುನಿಂತು
jerky in Odia
ଜର୍କୀ, ଜର୍କି
jerky in Nepali
जर्की, टु जर्की
jerky in Tagalog
lukba
jerky in Arabic
قَدِيد qadīd

Synonyms of jerky

Forms of jerky

Adjective
comparativejerkier
superlativejerkiest
Noun
pluraljerkies
alternative form (archaic)xarque
Verb
third-person singular presentjerkies
present participlejerkying
past participlejerkied
pastjerkied

Origin of jerky

From jerk + -y.

Borrowed from Spanish charqui, from Quechua charki.

Words formed from jerky

Words that rhyme with jerky

Questions about jerky

What does jerky mean?
Jerky means characterized by physical jerking, or by sudden and uneven progress.
What is jerky in Tamil?
Jerky in Tamil is காய்ந்தஇறைச்சி. See Jerky meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is jerky?
Jerky can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce jerky?
Jerky is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɜːki/ (UK).

Words near jerky in the dictionary

  1. jerkwater town
  2. jerkwater towns
  3. jerkwaters
  4. jerkweed
  5. jerkweeds
  6. jerky
  7. jerky up
  8. jerkying
  9. jerkying up
  10. Jermain
  11. Jermaine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jerky (page history and authors); jerky (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jerky (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jerky (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jerky (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jerky (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jerky (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jerky (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-jerky.wav.

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