breakdance

See also: break dance

English

Alternative forms

• break-dance, break dance

Etymology

From break +‎ dance, in reference to the instrumental break sections of music.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪk.dɑːns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹeɪk.dæns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

breakdance (countable and uncountable, plural breakdances)

1. The art, or an instance, of breakdancing.
   • 1998 June 7, Lola Ogunnaike, “NOTICED; Breakdancing Regains Its Footing”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     B-boys -- or breakdance boys -- have been spotted in Coca-Cola and Sprite advertisements.

Translations

instance of breakdancing

• Afrikaans: breakdance
• Arabic: بريك دانس (brīk dāns)
• Dutch: breakdance (nl) m
• Finnish: breikkaus
• French: breakdance (fr) m
• Georgian: ბრეიკდანსი (breiḳdansi), ბრეიკ-დანსი (breiḳ-dansi)
• Indonesian: tari kejang (id) (literally “convulsion dance”)
• Māori: kanikani keretao
• Polish: breakdance (pl) m
• Portuguese: breakdance (pt) m
• Spanish: breakdance (es) m

Verb

breakdance (third-person singular simple present breakdances, present participle breakdancing, simple past and past participle breakdanced)

1. (intransitive) To dance in this style.

Translations

to dance in breakdancing style

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地板舞, 霹雳舞 (zh) (pīlìwǔ), 布雷克舞

• Dutch: breakdancen (nl)
• Esperanto: rompdanci
• Finnish: breikata (fi)
• Indonesian: menari kejang
• Māori: kanikani keretao

Czech

breakdance

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbrɛjɡdaːns]

Noun

breakdance m inan

1. (dance) breakdancing

Declension

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• “breakdance”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026
• “breakdance”, in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012–2026, slovnikcestiny.cz

French

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /bʁɛk.dɛns/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /bʁek.dɛns/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

breakdance m (plural breakdances)

1. breakdancing (style of dance)

Polish

breakdance

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbrɛɡ.dɛns/, /ˈbrɛjɡ.dɛns/, /ˈbrɛjɡ.dans/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡdɛns, -ɛjɡdɛns, -ɛjɡdans
• Syllabification: break‧dance

Noun

breakdance m inan (indeclinable, related adjective breakdance'owy or breakdansowy)

1. (dance) breakdancing (urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century)

   Synonyms: break, taniec połamaniec

   Hypernym: taniec

Declension

Declension of breakdance

	singular	plural
nominative	breakdance	breakdance'y
genitive	breakdance'a	breakdance'ów
dative	breakdance'owi	breakdance'om
accusative	breakdance	breakdance'y
instrumental	breakdance'em	breakdance'ami
locative	breakdansie	breakdance'ach
vocative	breakdansie	breakdance'y

or

Indeclinable.

Related terms

nouns

• breakdancer

Further reading

• breakdance in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• breakdance in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• breakdance in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾej.kiˈdẽ.si/ [ˌbɾeɪ̯.kiˈdẽ.si]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾej.kiˈdẽ.si/ [ˌbɾeɪ̯.kiˈdẽ.si]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾej.keˈdẽ.se/ [ˌbɾeɪ̯.keˈdẽ.se]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾɐj.kɨˈdɐ̃.sɨ/ [ˌbɾɐj.kɨˈðɐ̃.sɨ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾɐj.kɨˈdɐ̃.sɨ/ [ˌbɾɐj.kɨˈðɐ̃.sɨ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾej.kɨˈdɐ̃.sɨ/ [ˌbɾej.kɨˈðɐ̃.sɨ]
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾej.kɨˈdɐ̃.sɨ/ [ˌbɾej.kɨˈðɐ̃.sɨ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌbɾe.kɨˈdɐ̃.sɨ/ [ˌbɾe.kɨˈðɐ̃.sɨ]

Noun

breakdance m (uncountable)

1. breakdancing (style of dance)

   Synonym: break

Further reading

• “breakdance”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Slovak

breakdance

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbrejkɟens]

Noun

breakdance m inan

1. (dance) breakdancing

Further reading

• “breakdance”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

Slovene

breakdance

Alternative forms

• brejkdens

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brɛ̂jɡdɛ̂ns/

Noun

breakdance m animacy unspecified

1. (dance) breakdancing

Further reading

• “breakdance”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

Spanish

Alternative forms

• break-dance

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from breakdance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɾeiɡˈdans/ [bɾei̯ɣ̞ˈð̞ãns]
• Rhymes: -ans

Noun

breakdance m (plural breakdances)

1. breakdance; breakdancing

Further reading

“breakdance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025