Etymology

brackish

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Today it means: Of water, salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries. Full definition →

Middle Dutch brac
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The story

  1. Middle Dutch · derived frombrac“brackish”
  2. English todaybrackish

From Scottish brack (from Middle Dutch brac (“brackish”)) + -ish. Cognate with Dutch brak (“brackish”), German Low German brack, brakerg, brakig (“brackish”), German brackig (“brackish”), Danish brak (“brackish”), Swedish bräck (“brackish”), Norwegian brakk (“brackish”). Perhaps a distant doublet of brook.

Words from the same roots

Middle Dutchbrac all →

brack

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.