Dictionary

brackish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈbɹækɪʃ/

Etymology

From Scottish brack (from Middle Dutch brac (“brackish”)) + -ish. Cognate with Dutch brak (“brackish”), German Low German brack, brakerg, brakig (“brackish”), German brackig (“brackish”), Danish brak (“brackish”), Swedish bräck (“brackish”), Norwegian brakk (“brackish”). Perhaps a distant doublet of brook.

Meanings

1. Of water, salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries.
   • 1992, Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 4. On all sides a powerful brackish marshland odor, the odor of damp, and decay, and black earth, black water.
   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, Random House. The water we took on at Chatham Isle is now brackish & without a dash of brandy in it, my stomach rebels.
   • White Slough is a large tidal wetland full of brackish water from the Napa River that flows into the city of Vallejo from under Highway 37. 2026 January 13, Ryan Geller, “A homeless Vallejo resident owns the city’s largest encampment. Now he’s pressured to evict his neighbors”, in Vallejo Sun, archived from the original on 15 Jan 2026:
   • ...by a low courſe and too long ſporting with the briny Ocean it taſts brackiſh and inſalubrious... 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:
2. Distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste.
   • Therefore the bread he had to eat Seemed brackish, less like corn than tares; 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Poems. A New Edition, F.S. Ellis:
3. Repulsive.

Forms

Deriveds

brackishly · nonbrackish · unbrackish · brackish water · brackishness

Translations (55)

tl matabsing (slightly salty) · sv bräckt (slightly salty) · cy lled hallt (slightly salty) · nn brakk (slightly salty) · da brakt vand (slightly salty) · es salobral (slightly salty) · ca salabrós (slightly salty) · ro sălciu (slightly salty) · th กร่อย (slightly salty) · pl słonawy (slightly salty) · da brakvand (slightly salty) · nn brakkvatn (slightly salty) · it salmastro (slightly salty) · bg леко солен (slightly salty) · ar آسِن (slightly salty) · cmn 汽水 (slightly salty) · id payau (slightly salty) · fr saumâtre (slightly salty) · is ísaltur (slightly salty) · mi kōtaitai (slightly salty) · es salobre (slightly salty) · ja まずい (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · mi kurutai (slightly salty) · hu brakk (slightly salty) · nb brakkvann (slightly salty) · ar زُعَاق (slightly salty) · ru солёный (slightly salty) · ota چوراق (slightly salty) · ota آجی (slightly salty) · ar آسِن (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · mi mātaitai (slightly salty) · nb brakt vann / vatn (slightly salty) · vi lợ (slightly salty) · cmn 半海水 (slightly salty) · pt salobre (slightly salty) · de salzig (slightly salty) · pt salobro (slightly salty) · nl brak (slightly salty) · mi kurutaitai (slightly salty) · ru солонова́тый (slightly salty) · de brackig (slightly salty) · ru проти́вный (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · nb brakkvatn (slightly salty) · de brackig (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · ga goirt (slightly salty) · hu félsós (slightly salty) · fi murto- (slightly salty) · oc salabrós (slightly salty) · nb brakk (slightly salty) · nn brakt vatn (slightly salty) · da brak (slightly salty) · es desabrido (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · fi epämiellyttävä (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste) · gv sailjey (slightly salty) · mi kōtaitai (distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste)