尬舞 (gàwǔ): to dance-battle (street dance)

Meanings

1 to dance-battle (street dance)
2 (slang) to bust out awkward / cringe dance moves

Characters

尬

gà

awkward / battle (slang)

舞

wǔ

dance

Examples

两队街舞高手在广场上尬舞。

Liǎng duì jiēwǔ gāoshǒu zài guǎngchǎng shàng gàwǔ.

Two street-dance crews battled it out on the plaza.

大叔在公园里尬舞，视频火了。

Dàshū zài gōngyuán lǐ gàwǔ, shìpín huǒ le.

The uncle's awkward dancing in the park went viral.

Tips

history

尬 comes from Taiwanese Hokkien 較 (to compete / match) — transliterated to 尬 because it sounds similar to Mandarin gà. Original sense was 'battle in street dance,' but the 尴尬 (awkward) overlap gave rise to the modern sense of cringe-dancing.