jerky

¹ American  

[jur-kee] / ˈdʒɜr ki /

adjective

jerkier, jerkiest

1. characterized by jerks or sudden starts; spasmodic.

2. Slang. silly; foolish; stupid; ridiculous.

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jerky ² American  

[jur-kee] / ˈdʒɜr ki /

noun

1. meat, especially beef, that has been cut in strips and preserved by drying in the sun; jerked meat.

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jerky ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒɜːkɪ /

adjective

1. characterized by jerks; spasmodic

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jerky ² British  

/ ˈdʒɜːkɪ /

noun

1. another word for jerk 2

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Usage

What does jerky mean? Jerky describes something that involves a lot of jerks, meaning sudden movements. Jerky also means meat that has been cut into strips and then dried or smoked. As an adjective, jerky describes something as having irregular, jarring movement, as in It was a long, jerky ride on the carriage thanks to the uncooperative horses. In this sense, the adverb jerkily means in a jerky movement, as in The wagon bounced jerkily over the rocky path. The noun form of this sense is jerkiness, as in The jerkiness of the airplane flight quickly made me feel sick. Jerky is also meat that has been sliced into strips that are then smoked or dried. The term jerked meat is also used to refer to this food. In this sense, jerky is used as both a singular and plural, as in I ate a piece of jerky from the bag of jerky Tom brought on the hike. Example: The jerky movements of the bull threw the cowboy to the ground.

Other Word Forms

• jerkily
  adverb
• jerkiness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of jerky¹

First recorded in 1855–60; jerk ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of jerky²

1840–50, alteration of charqui

Explanation

Something that's jerky has a bumpy, lurching kind of rhythm, like a jerky off-road ride in a jeep. Another kind of jerky is dried meat. You could chew your beef jerky to calm yourself on that jerky ride. A jerky carnival ride starts and stops abruptly, and a jerky old movie might be choppy and shaky. When jerky is a noun, it's a dense, chewy type of dried meat. This second kind of jerky is an American word, adapted from the Spanish to originally be charqui, from an Incan root word, ch'arki, literally "dried flesh."

Example Sentences

Jerky and skittish after starting a series well.

From BBC • Dec. 18, 2025

The bright, surprising pop in his dad’s recipe for Jerry’s Jerky?

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

The company said sales also fell compared to last year because it discontinued its Beyond Meat Jerky.

From Seattle Times • May 8, 2024

Beyond Meat added it intends to assume distribution responsibilities for Beyond Meat Jerky from the fourth quarter of 2023 and expects this to support its gross margins.

From Reuters • May 10, 2023

“N-not from his table. Ella cannot eat. Sad. Jerky would be good for harpies.”

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• bouncy
• bumpy