quagmire

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Recorded since 1579, from two virtual synonyms: obsolete quag (“bog, marsh”) (a variant of Middle English quabbe (“a marsh, bog”), from Old English *cwabba (“shake, tremble like something soft and flabby”); cognate with Dutch kwab) + mire (from Middle English, from Old Norse mýrr, akin to Old English mōs (“marsh”) and English moss). The sense "difficult situation, inextricable position" is recorded since 1775.

Alternative: Apparently a var. of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/ X-SAMPA: /"kwQg.maI@(r)/

Noun

quagmire (plural quagmires)

1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.

   That quagmire regularly 'swallows' caught-up hikers' boots

2. (figuratively) A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle; a predicament.

   The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.

   Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union

Synonyms

• (a swampy, soggy area of ground): bog, marsh (land), mire, quag

Translations

swampy, soggy area

• Belarusian: балота (be) (balóta) n , дрыгва (be) (drýhva) f , багна (be) (báhna) n 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沼澤 (cmn), 沼泽 (cmn) (zhǎozé)

• Czech: bažina (cs) f, močál (cs) m, třasovisko (cs) n
• Danish: sump (da) c, dynd (da) n
• Dutch: moeras(land) n
• Finnish: hete (fi), hetteikkö (fi), suo (fi)
• French: bourbier (fr) m
• German: Sumpf (de) m
• Greek: βάλτος (el) (váltos) m 
• Hindi: दलदल (hi)
• Irish: bogach (ga) m
• Italian: please add this translation if you can

• Japanese: (colloquial) ぬかるみ (ja) (nukarumi); (type of a land) 沼地 (ja) (numachi), 湿地 (ja) (shicchi)
• Khmer: ភក់ជ្រៅ (km) (pʰʊək crɨv)
• Norwegian: myr (no) f, sump (no) n, sump (no) n
• Old Church Slavonic: блато (blato) n
• Persian: باتلاق (fa) (bâtlâq), خلاب (fa) (xalâb)
• Polish: bagno (pl) n, trzęsawisko (pl) n
• Portuguese: pântano (pt) m
• Russian: болото (ru) (bolóto) n , топь (ru) (top') f , трясина (ru) (trjasína) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: boglach (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian: blato (sh), блато (sh) n
• Spanish: pantano (es) m, ciénaga (es) f, tremedal (es) m, cenagal (es) m, barrizal (es) m
• Ukrainian: трясовина (uk) (trjasovýna) f , болото (uk) (bolóto) n 

a perilous, mixed up and troubled situation

• Danish: dynd (da) n, hængedynd (da) n
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n, drijfzand (nl) n
• Finnish: hetteikkö (fi), sokkelo (fi), umpisolmu (fi)
• French: bourbier (fr) m
• German: Zwickmühle (de) f
• Greek: τέλμα (el) (télma) n 

• Japanese: 苦境 (ja) (kukyō), 窮地 (ja) (kyūchi)
• Norwegian: hengemyr (no) f, kvikksand (no) f
• Russian: трясина (ru) (tr'asína) f , болото (ru) (bolóto) n 
• Serbo-Croatian: živi pijesak (sh)
• Spanish: dilema (es) m, apuro (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: тресавище (tresavište)
• Catalan: pantà m
• Mandarin: 泥沼 (ní zhǎo)
• French: marais m, marécage m
• German: Sumpf m

• Interlingua: palude, fangositate
• Italian: pantano m, ginepraio m
• Korean: 곤경 (gon-gyeong)
• Spanish: pantano m, tremedal m, cenagal m, barrizal m
• Volapük: maräd, lulak

References

• quagmire at OneLook Dictionary Search