Meanings
croak1
present singular third person croaks · participle present croaking · participle past croaked · past croaked
- intransitiveTo make a croak sound.
- transitiveTo utter in a low, hoarse voice.
The raven himself is hoarse, / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]1 more example
“I am so tired,” he croaked. “It’s ageing this nation in Tom Hanks in Castaway years.”
2025 April 29, The Guardian, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2025 - intransitivetoad; raven; or various other birds or animals; toad; raven; or various other birds or animalsTo make its vocal sound.
- intransitiveslangTo die.
“I would like to understand before I croak. I would like to understand, and then I’m perfectly fine to shuffle off my mortal coil.”
2026, Sebastian Mallaby, “Introduction”, in The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence, Penguin, →ISBN - slangtransitiveTo kill.
He'd seen my face, so I had to croak him.
2 more examples
"It was me. And I'm glad, damned glad, I didn't croak him. With this slick guy after me, it would be me for the chair."
1920 June 28, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 216, column 2If Wilton croaked the criminal he did a jolly good day's work, and there's an end of it.
1925, G. K. Chesterton, The Arrow of Heaven (first published in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine, Jul 1925) - To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.
Marat […] croaks with such reasonableness.
1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number) - slangcomputingTo abort the current program indicating a user or caller error.
The accessor croaks if it's not an appropriate object reference.
2002, Nathan Patwardhan, Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Perl, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 200
Croak2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe call of a frog or toad.
More synonyms by meaning
verbpass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
verbmake complaining remarks or noises under one's breath
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
croak · noun, verb
- Proto-Indo-European*greh₂-g-
- Proto-Germanic*krēk-
- Old Englishcrācettan“to croak”
- Middle English*croken
- Englishcroak
From Middle English *croken, crouken, (also represented by craken > crake), back-formation from Old English crācettan (“to croak”) (also in derivative crǣcetung (“croaking”)), from Proto-Germanic *krēk-, from Proto-Indo-European *greh₂-g-, from *greh₂-k-, of onomatopoeic origin. See also Swedish kråka, German krächzen, Sanskrit गर्जति (garjati, “to growl”); also compare Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”), Serbo-Croatian grákati. More at crack, crake and craic.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic نَقِيق, نَقَّ
- نَقِيق (naqīq)the sound of a frog or toad
- نَقَّ (naqqa)of a frog, to make its sound
Bulgarian ква́кане, крякам
- ква́кане (kvákane)the sound of a frog or toad
- крякам (krjakam)to make a croak
- ква́кам (kvákam)of a frog, to make its sound
- умирам (umiram)slang: to die
- убивам (ubivam)slang: to kill
Catalan rauc, raucar
- raucthe sound of a frog or toad
- raucarto make a croak
- raucarof a frog, to make its sound
- matarslang: to kill
Chinese Mandarin 沙哑的声音, 呱呱
- 沙哑的声音 (shayádeshēngyīn)a faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- 呱呱 (guāguā)the sound of a frog or toad
- 呱呱 (guāguā)of a frog, to make its sound
- 嗝屁 (gěpì, gěrpì)slang: to die
Czech kvákání, kvákat
- kvákáníthe sound of a frog or toad
- kvákatof a frog, to make its sound
Danish kvæk, skrige
- kvækthe sound of a frog or toad
- skrigeto make a croak
- kvækkeof a frog, to make its sound
Dutch kwak, gekwaak
- kwakthe sound of a frog or toad
- gekwaakthe sound of a frog or toad
- rochelento make a croak
- kwakenof a frog, to make its sound
- de pijp uit gaanslang: to die
- snevenslang: to die
Esperanto kvako, kvaki
- kvakothe sound of a frog or toad
- kvakiof a frog, to make its sound
Estonian krooks, krooksuma
- krooksthe sound of a frog or toad
- krooksumaof a frog, to make its sound
- kärvamaslang: to die
Finnish korahdus, kurnutus
- korahdusa faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- kurnutusthe sound of a frog or toad
- korahtaato make a croak
- korahdellato make a croak
- kurnuttaaof a frog, to make its sound
French coassement, coasser
- coassementthe sound of a frog or toad
- coasserto make a croak
- croasserto make a croak
- coasserof a frog, to make its sound
- creverslang: to die
- clamserslang: to die
- creverslang: to kill
- buterslang: to kill
German Quaken, krächzen
- Quakenthe sound of a frog or toad
- krächzento make a croak
- quakenof a frog, to make its sound
- krepierenslang: to die
- abkratzenslang: to die
Greek κρωγμός, κουάξ
- κρωγμός (krogmós)a faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- κουάξ (kouáx)the sound of a frog or toad
- κόασμα (kóasma)the sound of a frog or toad
- κράζω (krázo)to make a croak
- κοάζω (koázo)of a frog, to make its sound
Hebrew חרחור, קרקור
- חרחור (khirkhúr)a faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- קרקור (kirkúr)the sound of a frog or toad
- קִרְקֵר (qirqér)of a frog, to make its sound
Hungarian krákogás, brekegés
- krákogása faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- brekegésthe sound of a frog or toad
- vartyogásthe sound of a frog or toad
- kuruttyolásthe sound of a frog or toad
- krákogto make a croak
- brekegof a frog, to make its sound
- vartyogof a frog, to make its sound
- kuruttyolof a frog, to make its sound
- kinyiffanslang: to die
- kinyiffantslang: to kill
Indonesian menguak
- menguakof a frog, to make its sound
Irish grág
- grágthe sound of a frog or toad
Italian gracidio, gracidare
- gracidiothe sound of a frog or toad
- gracidareof a frog, to make its sound
- crepareslang: to die
- terminareslang: to kill
Japanese ケロケロ, ゲロゲロ鳴く
- ケロケロ (kero kero)the sound of a frog or toad
- ゲロゲロ鳴く (gerogero naku)of a frog, to make its sound
- くたばる (kutabaru)slang: to die
Korean 개굴개굴, 뒤지다
- 개굴개굴 (gaegulgaegul)the sound of a frog or toad
- 뒤지다 (dwijida)slang: to die
- 뒈지다 (dwejida)slang: to die
- 골로 가다 (gollo gada)slang: to die
Latin crōciō, coaxō
- crōciōto make a croak
- coaxōof a frog, to make its sound
- quaxōof a frog, to make its sound
Māori ōkaka, ōkaka
- ōkakathe sound of a frog or toad
- ōkakaof a frog, to make its sound
Norwegian Bokmål hark, harke
- harka faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- harketo make a croak
- krepereslang: to die
Polish rechot, rechotać
- rechotthe sound of a frog or toad
- rechotaćof a frog, to make its sound
- kumkaćof a frog, to make its sound
- zdychaćslang: to die
- zdechnąćslang: to die
- zabićslang: to kill
Portuguese coaxada, coaxo
- coaxadathe sound of a frog or toad
- coaxothe sound of a frog or toad
- grasnirto make a croak
- grasnarto make a croak
- coaxarof a frog, to make its sound
- matarslang: to kill
Russian хрип, ква́канье
- хрип (xrip)a faint, harsh sound made in the throat
- ква́канье (kvákanʹje)the sound of a frog or toad
- хрипе́ть (xripétʹ)to make a croak
- ква́кать (kvákatʹ)of a frog, to make its sound
- сдыха́ть (sdyxátʹ)slang: to die
- сдо́хнуть (sdóxnutʹ)slang: to die
- замочи́ть (zamočítʹ)slang: to kill
- ко́кнуть (kóknutʹ)slang: to kill
- завали́ть (zavalítʹ)slang: to kill
Slovak kvákať
- kvákaťof a frog, to make its sound
Spanish croac, croar
- croacthe sound of a frog or toad
- croarof a frog, to make its sound
- groarof a frog, to make its sound
- palmarslang: to die
- palmarlaslang: to die
- espicharlaslang: to die
- matarslang: to kill
Swedish kväk, kväka
- kväkthe sound of a frog or toad
- kväkaof a frog, to make its sound
Tagalog kokak, kumokak
- kokakthe sound of a frog or toad
- kumokakof a frog, to make its sound
Turkish vıraklama, vıraklamak
- vıraklamathe sound of a frog or toad
- vıraklamakof a frog, to make its sound
- gebermekslang: to die
- geberip gitmekslang: to die
- zıbarmakslang: to die
- gebertmekslang: to kill
Ukrainian ква́кання, ква́кати
- ква́кання (kvákannja)the sound of a frog or toad
- ква́кати (kvákaty)of a frog, to make its sound
- ґи́ґнути (gýgnuty)slang: to die
- здиха́ти (zdyxáty)slang: to die
- здо́хнути (zdóxnuty)slang: to die
- подиха́ти (podyxáty)slang: to die
- подо́хнути (podóxnuty)slang: to die
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with croak
Cite this entry
croak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croak
“croak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croak. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “croak,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/croak.
Source: croak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.