swamp

English

Alternative forms

• swomp (obsolete)

Etymology

From a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh", also "fungus, mushroom”), from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”) and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”), from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”); all from Proto-Germanic *swumpuz, *swampuz, *swambaz, *swammaz (“sponge, tree-fungus”), from Proto-Indo-European *swombh- (“sponge, tree-fungus, swamp”). Cognate with Dutch zwamp (“swamp, marsh, fen”), Middle Low German swamp (“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zump, somp (“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Sumpf (“swamp”), Swedish sump (“swamp”). Related also to Dutch zwam (“fungus, punk, tinder”), German Schwamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Swedish svamp (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Icelandic svampur, svepper (“fungus”), Gothic  (swumsl, “a ditch”). Related to sump, swim.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒmp

Noun

Wikipedia swamp (plural swamps)

1. A piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.
2. A type of wetland that stretches for vast distances, and is home to many creatures who have adapted specifically to that environment.

Derived terms

• swamp gum
• swampland
• swamp wallaby
• swampy

Translations

type of wetland

• Ainu: メㇺ (mem), ピㇷ゚ (pip), ピポㇰ (pipok)
• Armenian: ճահիճ (hy) (č̣ahič̣)

  Old Armenian: ճահիճ (čahič), եղտիւր (ełtiwr)

• Asturian: pantanu (ast) m
• Buryat: намаг (namag), намарга (namarga)
• Catalan: pantà (ca) m
• Chamicuro: pnajmule
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: bažina (cs) f
• Danish: mose (da) c
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n
• Esperanto: marĉo (eo)
• Estonian: soo (et), raba (et)
• Evenki: bulë, jaku, lewë
• Finnish: suo (fi), räme (fi)
• French: marécage (fr) m, marais (fr) m
• Galician: pantano (gl) m
• German: Sumpf (de) m, Moor (de) n
• Greek: έλος (el) (élos) n
• Hebrew: ביצה (he) f
• Hungarian: mocsár (hu), ingovány (hu)
• Irish: bogach (ga) m
• Italian: palude (it)

• Japanese: 沼地 (ja) (ぬまち, numachi), 湿地 (ja) (しっち, shicchi), 沼沢 (ja) (しょうたく, shōtaku), 沼 (ja) (ぬま, numa)
• Korean: 늪 (ko) (neup)
• Latgalian: pūrs, peiss
• Latin: palūs (la) f
• Latvian: purvs m
• Lithuanian: pelkė (lt), raistas (lt), palios (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Supp (lb) f
• Nanai: ниарё (niarǒ)
• Norwegian: sump (no) m
• Old Church Slavonic: блато (blato) n
• Persian: باتلاق (fa) (bâtlâq)
• Polish: bagno (pl) n
• Portuguese: pântano (pt), paul (pt) m
• Russian: болото (ru) (bolóto) n, топь (ru) (top') f
• Scottish Gaelic: boglach (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мочвара f

  Roman: močvara f

• Slovene: močvirje (sl) n
• Spanish: embalsadero (es) m, pantano (es) m, ciénaga (es) f
• Swahili: bwawa (sw)
• Swedish: myr c, kärr n, sumpmark c, mosse c
• Turkish: bataklık (tr)

See also

• bog
• marsh
• moor

Verb

swamp (third-person singular simple present swamps, present participle swamping, simple past and past participle swamped)

1. To drench or fill with water.

   The boat was swamped in the storm.

2. To overwhelm; to make too busy or overrun capacity.

   I have been swamped with paperwork ever since they started using the new system.

   • 2006, New York Times,

     Mr. Spitzer’s defeat of his Democratic opponent ... ended a primary season in which Hillary Rodham Clinton swamped an antiwar challenger for renomination to the Senate.

Translations

overwhelm

• German: überfluten (de), überschwemmen (de)
• Greek: πλημμυρίζω (el) (plimmyrízo)
• Portuguese: afundar (pt)

• Swahili: bwawa (sw)
• Swedish: översvämma (sv)
• Turkish: bastırmak (tr), yoğun olmak (tr), içine su dolup batmak (tr)