to walk like an Egyptian

1 8.7

To move with bent arms and a stiff posture like the dance from the song

idiom
/wɔk laɪk ən ɪˈdʒɪpʃən/

Informal

: caminar como un egipcio

At the party, everyone started to walk like an Egyptian to the catchy music.

Examples

Whenever the song came on, she couldn't resist trying to walk like an Egyptian.
He made the students walk like an Egyptian for the school talent show.
Don't walk like an Egyptian in the museum!
She loves to walk like an Egyptian at parties.
At the party, she decided to walk like an Egyptian to entertain her friends.
During the dance competition, he was so enthusiastic that he began to walk like an Egyptian when the music started.
To get everyone laughing, she showed them how to walk like an Egyptian, moving her arms and legs in funny ways.

How Stylized

to walk like an Egyptian

Informal

1 8.7

to prance

28 4.8

to strut

41 5.5

to stride

16 2.7

walk

119 1.0

Surface Forms

walk like an Egyptian infinitive

walked like an Egyptian past

walked like an Egyptian past participle

walking like an Egyptian present participle

walks like an Egyptian third person singular

Morphology

walk + like + an + Egyptian

The construction 'walk like an Egyptian' transparently signals imitation (walk + like + Egyptian), so a learner would understand it means to walk in a way associated with Egyptians. However, the specific stylized posture (bent arms, rigid pose) is culturally and/or pop‑culturally specific (ancient art/song/dance) and not predictable from the words alone, so full meaning requires prior exposure.

Etymology

The verb walk like an Egyptian comes from a clear image: old Egyptian wall paintings show people in stiff, side-on poses with bent arms and straight legs, and a 1980s pop song turned those poses into a simple dance. So, when people say walk like an Egyptian, they mean 'to move in a posed, exaggerated way', copying that odd, pictured walk.