Twerking Added To Oxford English Dictionary

Twerking is among a batch of fresh words added to the Oxford English Dictionary!

The raunchy dance craze, which features sexually suggestive twists of the hips, was infamously performed by Miley Cyrus at the MTV Music Video Awards on Sunday night.

Oxford Dictionaries Online say that the word ‘twerk’ has been used in hip-hop culture for the past two decades but has skyrocketed in usage over the past 12 month.

Katherine Connor Martin from Oxford Dictionaries told the BBC: "By last year, it had generated enough currency to be added to our new words watch list, and by this spring, we had enough evidence of usage frequency in a breadth of sources to consider adding it to our dictionaries of current English.

"The current public reaction to twerking is reminiscent in some ways of how the twisting craze was regarded in the early 1960s, when it was first popularised by Chubby Checker's song, The Twist."

20-year-old Miley Cyrus caused a hullabaloo during her Robin Thicke duet at the VMAs when she stripped to a nude bikini and twerked during a medley of ‘We Can’t Stop’ and ‘Blurred Lines’.

Hip-hop stars Drake, Lily Wayne, French Montana and The Ying Yang Twins are among the artists who have name-checked twerking in their song lyrics.

Other words freshly added to the 600,000 word strong Oxford English Dictionary include ‘selfie’ and ‘omnishambles’. Around 1,000 words are added each year.

CLICK HERE to see photos of Miley twerking at the MTV VMAs plus many more highlights!