Dictionary

quag en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /kwɑɡ/ (General-American)
• /kwæɡ/ (General-American)
• /kwɒɡ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /kwæɡ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Uncertain. Most often suggested to be an alteration of Middle English quabbe (“a marsh, bog”), from Old English *cwabbe (“that which shakes or trembles, something soft and flabby”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwabbā (“soggy ground”); this is supported by 1590s attestations of quabmire for quagmire (other earlier variants are quamire, from the 1550s, and quavemire from the 1520s). It has alternatively been suggested to be related to quake, as quaggy ground quakes when trod. Compare typologically Russian тряси́на (trjasína) (see for more).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Quagmire; marsh; bog.
   • Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium; or, a Review of Schools:
   • If a person ventures on one of these quags, it bends in waves under his feet; and if the surface breaks, he is in danger of sinking to the bottom. 1771 December 16, John Walker, Account of the Irruption of Solway Moss:
   • I tell you frankly that less than twenty thousand pounds will not extricate me from the quag of ruin in which I am entangled—lost! 1865, Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas:

Forms

Deriveds

quaggy