quagmire

English

WOTD – 7 June 2016

A quagmire or swamp in Louisiana, United States

Etymology

Recorded since 1579, from two virtual synonyms: obsolete English quag (“bog, marsh”) (a variant of Middle English quabbe (“bog, marsh”), 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 “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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwæɡ.maɪəɹ/
• Hyphenation: quag‧mire

Noun

quagmire (plural quagmires)

1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.

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

   Synonyms: marsh, marshland, mire, quag

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

Translations

swampy ground

• Bashkir: һаҙ (hað)
• Belarusian: бало́та n (balóta), дры́гва f (drýhva), ба́гна n (báhna)
• Catalan: pantà m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沼澤 (zh), 沼泽 (zh) (zhǎozé)

• Czech: bažina (cs) f, močál m, třasovisko n
• Danish: sump (da) c, dynd n
• Dutch: (land) moeras (nl) n
• Finnish: hete (fi), hetteikkö, jorpakko (fi)
• French: bourbier (fr) m, marais (fr) m, marécage (fr) m
• Galician: groto (gl) m, aluteiro (gl) m, lamazal (gl) m, tremoeiro (gl) m, chagorza (gl) f, toleiro (gl) m, sapale (gl) m, foroncho (gl) m, bulleiro (gl) m
• German: Sumpf (de) m, Morast (de) m, Morastboden m, Sumpfboden m
• Greek: βάλτος (el) m (váltos)
• Hindi: दलदल (hi) m (daldal)
• Irish: bogach m
• Italian: pantano (it) m
• Japanese: 泥濘 (ぬかるみ, nukarumi) (colloquial), 沼地 (ぬまち, numachi) (type of a land), 湿地 (ja) (しっち, shitchi)
• Khmer: ភក់ជ្រៅ (pʰʊək crɨv)

• Maori: powharu, wharu, oru, poharu
• Norwegian: myr f, sump (no) n, sump (no) n
• Old Church Slavonic: блато n (blato)
• Persian: باتلاق‎‎ (fa) (bâtlâq), خلاب‎‎ (fa) (xalâb)
• Polish: bagno (pl) n, trzęsawisko n
• Portuguese: pântano (pt) m, charco (pt) m, brejo (pt) m, paul (pt) m
• Romanian: mlaștină (ro) f
• Russian: боло́то (ru) n (bolóto), топь (ru) f (topʹ), тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína)
• Scots: champ
• Scottish Gaelic: boglach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бла̏то n

  Roman: blȁto (sh) n

• Spanish: pantano (es) m, ciénaga (es) f, tremedal (es) m, cenagal (es) m, barrizal m
• Swedish: gungfly (sv), moras (sv), sumpmark
• Ukrainian: трясови́на f (trjasovýna), боло́то (uk) n (bolóto)
• Walloon: bourbî m, wachisse (wa) m, maraexhe m, f
• Westrobothnian: dôvahôḷ n

perilous, mixed up and troubled situation

• Danish: dynd n, hængedynd n
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n, drijfzand (nl) n
• Finnish: sokkelo (fi), syöverit pl, kiipeli
• French: bourbier (fr) m
• German: Zwickmühle (de) f
• Greek: τέλμα (el) n (télma)
• Japanese: 苦境 (ja) (kukyō), 窮地 (ja) (kyūchi)

• Norwegian: hengemyr f, kvikksand f
• Portuguese: confusão (pt) f
• Russian: тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína), боло́то (ru) n (bolóto)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: živi pijesak

• Spanish: dilema (es) m, apuro (es) m
• Swedish: träsk (sv)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} тресавище (tresavište)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} pantà m
• French: ^{(please verify)} marais m, ^{(please verify)} marécage m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Sumpf m
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} palude, ^{(please verify)} fangositate

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} pantano m, ^{(please verify)} ginepraio m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 곤경 (gon-gyeong)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 泥沼 (ní zhǎo)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} pantano m, ^{(please verify)} tremedal m, ^{(please verify)} cenagal m, ^{(please verify)} barrizal m
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} maräd, ^{(please verify)} lulak

Verb

quagmire (third-person singular simple present quagmires, present participle quagmiring, simple past and past participle quagmired)

1. (transitive) To embroil (a person, etc.) in complexity or difficulty.

References

• “quagmire” at OneLook Dictionary Search.