polka

UK/ˈpɒl.kə/US/ˈpoʊ(l)kə/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,380 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: polkas

A polka is a brisk couples' dance from Bohemia in two-four time. Dance a polka, a polka band, polka rhythm.

It swept Europe in the 1840s in a craze that was compared to an epidemic at the time. Polka dots are named after it for exactly that reason, since anything fashionable then took the name.

Definitions of polka

1nounpolkaA brisk couples' dance from Bohemia in two-four time, with a hop-step-close-step in a circling hold.B2
“The band struck up a lively polka, and couples hopped around the dance floor.”

polka is a dance.

Where it comes from

Czech polka is probably a form of pulka, a half, from the half-step of the dance.

Czech
polka
English, today
polka

Built from

půlka · Czech — half
půl · Czech — half

Via French - and German - from Czech polka, variant of půlka (“half”) as in "half-step"; see půl (“half”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

polka in the wild

Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas.
Polka
Frank John Yankovic was an American accordion player and polka musician.
Frankie Yankovic
The most famous forms of traditional music include Paraguayan polka and Guarania.
Music of Paraguay
Strauss acknowledged de Villemessant's role in his Paris success and therefore dedicated the new polka to the latter.
Figaro-Polka
"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach.
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

polka dot

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