brackish
/ˈbɹækɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.69 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of water, salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries.
adj
Distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste.
adj
Example Sentences
- "...by a low courſe and too long ſporting with the briny Ocean it taſts brackiſh and inſalubrious..."
- "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."
- "Therefore the bread he had to eat Seemed brackish, less like corn than tares;"
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.
Word Breakdown
Inflected Forms
more brackish (comparative)
most brackish (superlative)