hootchy-kootchy
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
37
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A kind of erotic dance similar to a belly dance, formerly performed at carnivals.
American usage
noun
Example Sentences
- "She let her hair down And he did the hoochie-koochie real slow."
- "The shows claimed legitimacy as depictions of Middle Eastern and Asian cultures that were still regarded as savage[…] But these dances never were authentic rituals or ethnographic displays; instead they became known as “hootchy-kootchy” or “cooch” dances designed to please and excite male patrons."
- "In Mary Garden’s hands the princess was an amalgam of the diva of German opera and the ballerina of the Paris Opera rounded out by a good dose of the hootchy-kootchy girl from American vaudeville."
Etymology
Unknown. Attested from the 1890s. Compare kouta kouta dance, a similar belly dance also attested from the 1890s. Possibly influenced by forms such as honky-tonk (from 1880s), hula-hula (from 1820s), or hurdy-gurdy (from 1740s). Later forms coochie, cooch appear to derive from hootchy-kootchy.
Usage
- American usage