quagmire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a situation that is difficult to reslove

   The military was in a logistical quagmire after their supply line was broken.

2. 2
   noun

   a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot

   I got stuck in the quagmire and my boot popped off in the mud.

Simplified etymology

Quagmire is recorded from the mid-16th century and belongs to a group of words including quake, quaver, and quiver that probably have a Germanic origin. The source passage does not establish a more precise derivation.

Recorded since 1579, from quag + mire. The sense “perilous, mixed up and troubled situation” has been recorded since 1775. Alternatively, the word may apparently be a variation of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire. Compare typologically Bulgarian тресавище (tresavište), Polish trzęsawisko, Russian тряси́на (trjasína) (akin to трясти́ (trjastí)); зыбь (zybʹ), зыбу́н (zybún) (<… Proto-Slavic *zybь).

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary