Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mawk

/mɔːk/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: mawk
IPA: /mɔːk/

13

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

noun

British usage; Obsolete

Etymology

From Middle English mawke, moke, a contraction of mathek, maddok, from Old Norse maðkr (“maggot”), a diminutive of a base from Proto-Germanic *maþô (“worm”) (compare Old English maþa), from Proto-Indo-European *mat-, *mot- used in reference to insects and vermin. Cognate with Danish maddike, Swedish mask, archaic English maddock (modern maggot).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: mawke, maðkr, *maþô, *mat-

Usage

British usage
Obsolete

Inflected Forms

mawks (plural)

Derived Forms

mawkish mawky mollymawk

Rhymes With

talk walk hawk chalk by a long chalk cocktail fork stalk pickle fork balk squawk gawk awk

Questions

How do you pronounce mawk?: The recorded pronunciation is /mɔːk/.
What does mawk mean?: A maggot.
Where does mawk come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce mawk

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mawk”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/mɔːk/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mawk”.
Repeat and practice — Say “mawk” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.