brackish

English

Etymology

Dutch brak +‎ -ish

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.
3. repulsive

Derived terms

• brackishness

Translations

slightly salty

Bulgarian: леко солен (bg) Finnish: murto- French: saumâtre (fr) m. and f.

Italian: salmastra (it) Manx: sailjey (gv) Spanish: salado (es)

distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste

repulsive