brackish

English

Etymology

From the now obsolete brack + -ish, from Middle Dutch brac.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɹækɪʃ/

Adjective

brackish (comparative more brackish, superlative most brackish)

  1. (of water) Salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries.
    • 1638 Herbert, Sir Thomas Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
      ...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.
  2. Distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. Repulsive (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

Translations

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