frog kick

1 3.5

A swimming movement where you pull your knees up, straighten your legs, and push them together like a frog

noun
/frɔg kɪk/

Specialized

: patada de rana

She was doing the breaststroke, using her long legs in powerful frog kicks, her hands stuck straight and fast to her sides, a steady stream of tiny bubbles rising from her mouth.

Examples

In competitive swimming, using a frog kick can help create a powerful propulsion through the water.
She practiced her frog kick technique to improve her speed while swimming the breaststroke.
The coach demonstrated how to perform a frog kick, emphasizing the importance of drawing the knees up and extending the legs outward.

How Powerful

dolphin kick

Specialized

1 4.0

frog kick

Specialized

1 3.5

flutter kick

Specialized

1 3.4

Surface Forms

frog kick singular

frog kicks plural

Morphology

frog + kick

The meaning is directly built from the constituents: a 'kick' that imitates a 'frog''s movement. This is a literal, mimetic compound used to describe a specific swimming action, so a B1 learner who knows 'frog' and 'kick' can readily infer the intended motion.

Etymology

Frog kick comes from the way a frog moves its legs in the water: it draws its knees in and then uses a strong kick to push the water. So the name describes a 'swimming kick' where a person copies that frog motion to move through water, and that is why swimmers and divers use it to stir up less mud.