quagga

English

Quagga mare at London Zoo, 1870, the only specimen photographed alive.

Alternative forms

• kwagga (dated)
• quakka
• quagha

Etymology

From Dutch quagga (whence also Afrikaans kwagga), from a Khoisan term, probably Haiǁom, Khoekhoe ǁkoaah, apparently of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• (General South African) IPA^(key): /ˈkwaxə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒɡə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kwæɡə/, /kwɑɡə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡə, -ɑːɡə

Noun

quagga (plural quaggas)

1. A southern-African subspecies of plains zebra, Equus quagga quagga, which went extinct in 1883. The upper parts of the animal were reddish brown, becoming paler behind and beneath, while the face, neck, and fore part of the body were marked by dark stripes.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     I saw a rhinoceros, buffalo (a large herd), eland, quagga, and sable antelope, the most beautiful of all the bucks, not to mention many smaller varieties of game, and three ostriches which scudded away at our approach like white drift before a gale.

2. Short for quagga mussel.

Derived terms

• quagga mussel

Translations

Equus quagga quagga

• Afrikaans: kwagga
• Assamese: কুৱাসা (kuaxa)
• Finnish: kvagga (fi)
• German: Quagga (de) n, Quaggafohlen n, Quaggafüllen n
• Hungarian: kvagga (hu)
• Japanese: クアッガ (ja) (kuagga)
• Polish: kwagga (pl) f, kwaga f
• Portuguese: quagga m, quaga m
• Russian: ква́гга f (kvágga)
• Tagalog: kuwaga

Italian

Etymology

From a Khoisan term, probably Haiǁom, Khoekhoe ǁkoaah, apparently of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwaɡ.ɡa/
• Rhymes: -aɡɡa
• Hyphenation: quàg‧ga

Noun

quagga m (invariable)

1. plains zebra (Equus quagga)

   Hypernym: zebra

Further reading

• quagga in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana