morkin

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US/ˈmoɹkɪn/US[ˈmo̞ɹkɪn]UK/ˈmɔːkɪn//mɔːɹkɪn/

noun

An animal that has died of disease or by mischance.

OriginOld French mortekine ← Medieval Latin morticinus →
Scrabble 12
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Meanings

nounmorkin (plural morkins)

plural morkins

  1. obsoleteAn animal that has died of disease or by mischance.

    Could hee^([sic]) not sacrifice / Some sorry morkin that unbidden dies, / Or meagre heifer, or some rotten ewe, […]

    1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC

Origin

  1. Medieval Latinmorticinus
  2. Old Frenchmortekine
  3. Englishmorkin

Probably from mort + -kin (compare mortling); or from Old French mortekine, a variant of mortecine, from Medieval Latin morticinus. Compare also Swedish murken (“putrefied”), Icelandic morkinn (“putrid”).

More words from Old French, Medieval Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

morkin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morkin

MLA

“morkin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morkin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morkin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morkin.

Source: morkin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.