quahog

English

Etymology

Most often thought to be from Narragansett poquaûhock (“hard clam”), or perhaps from pohkeni (“dark”) +‎ hogki (“shell”). Alternatively from Mohegan-Pequot p'quaghhaug (“hard clam”) or another Algonquian language.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊ.hɒɡ/, /ˈkwəʊ.hɒɡ/, /ˈkwɑː.hɒɡ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɔ.hɔɡ/, /ˈkwɔ.hɑɡ/; /ˈkwɑ.hɔɡ/, /ˈkwɑ.hɑɡ/
  • also, especially as quohog: /ˈkwoʊ.hɔɡ/, /ˈkwoʊ.hɑɡ/,
  • also, especially as cohog: /ˈkoʊ.hɔɡ/, /ˈkoʊ.hɑɡ/,
  • also: /kwəˈhɔɡ/, /kwə.ˈhɑɡ/

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkoʊ.hɑɡ/:

    (file)

• Hyphenation: qua‧hog

Noun

quahog (plural quahogs)

1. An edible clam with a hard shell found along the Atlantic Coast of North America, from species Mercenaria mercenaria, formerly Venus mercenaria.
   1. The largest size of such an edible clam, generally considered only fit for use in chowders and other clam dishes.
2. A similar edible clam, of species Arctica islandica, found along coasts around the North Atlantic, generally in deeper waters.

   Synonyms: ocean quahog, black quahog, mahogany clam, Icelandic cyprine

Alternative forms

• quahaug (slightly more common until the 1950s, now uncommon)
• quohog (regional US; uncommon nationally)
• cohog (regional US; uncommon nationally)

Synonyms

• (Mercenaria mercenaria): hard clam, chowder clam, round clam; count neck (smallest), littleneck (small), cherrystone (smaller medium), topneck (larger medium)
• (largest size of quahog): chowder clam

Derived terms

• mahogany quahog

Translations

Mercenaria mercenaria

• Finnish: kampavenussimpukka

Arctica islandica

• Finnish: islanninsimpukka

Verb

quahog (third-person singular simple present quahogs, present participle quahogging, simple past and past participle quahogged)

1. (intransitive) To dig for quahogs.

References

• “quahog”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.