POLKA
What does "POLKA" mean?
A lively couples' dance in duple time, originating in 19th-century Bohemia.
Meanings
- A fast, bouncing dance for couples, in 2/4 time, or the music for it. The wedding band struck up a polka and the floor filled at once.
- To dance the polka. They polkaed around the hall until they were breathless.
- Short for 'polka dot', a pattern of evenly spaced round dots. She wore a navy dress covered in white polka dots. informal
Did you know?
- Polka dots have nothing to do with dancing: the dotted pattern was simply named after the polka during the dance's mid-19th-century fame, when 'polka' was slapped on anything marketable.
Word origin
From Czech 'polka', probably from 'půlka' (half-step), describing the dance's characteristic half-step; popularized across Europe in the 1840s.
Remember it
POLKA = the dance with a hidden half-step; the Czech 'půlka' means 'half', the little hop that gives it its bounce.
A little poem
A half-step born in Prague went round the world-
now dots wear its name, and the dancers whirled.
couplet
Wordplay
- My grandmother said her dress and her dancing matched - both were full of polka.
What it teaches
A name can outlive its origin: the dance fades, but its borrowed word still spins on every dotted dress.
Quick facts
What does POLKA mean?
A lively couples' dance in duple time, originating in 19th-century Bohemia.
Is POLKA a valid word?
Yes — POLKA is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is POLKA?
POLKA has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does POLKA come from?
From Czech 'polka', probably from 'půlka' (half-step), describing the dance's characteristic half-step; popularized across Europe in the 1840s.
What can POLKA teach us?
A name can outlive its origin: the dance fades, but its borrowed word still spins on every dotted dress.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.