murk

M3U1R1K5
US/mɝk/UK/mɜːk/

adjective

Dark, murky.

Similar
gloomfogfogginessmurkiness
OriginMiddle English merke ← Old English mirce ← Old Norse myrkr →
UncommonScrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

murk1

adjectivemurk (comparative murker, superlative murkest)

comparative murker · superlative murkest · alternative archaic mirk · alternative dialectal mark

  1. Dark, murky.

    He cannot see through the mantle murk.

    1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay

murk2

nounmurk (uncountable)
  1. uncountableDarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment.

    […]in murk and occidental damp

    c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]
    2 more examples

    O great star disappear’d—O the black murk that hides the star!

    1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems

    And yet, tiny sparks of hope gleam in this dim existence, like pearls in the murk.

    2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Twilight Town

    Synonyms: gloom

murk3

verbmurk (third-person singular simple present murks, present participle murking, simple past and past participle murked)

present singular third person murks · participle present murking · participle past murked · past murked

  1. intransitiveTo make murky or be murky; to cloud or obscure, or to be clouded or obscured.

    Dawn had been murking through the smoky windows, growing stronger for half an hour...

    1918, Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons

murk4

verbmurk (third-person singular simple present murks, present participle murking, simple past and past participle murked)

present singular third person murks · participle present murking · participle past murked · past murked · alternative merk

  1. ambitransitiveslangTo kill or eliminate.

    that 1 fag in there got my pistol confiscated, I got plenty of other guns but I want to murk that cocksucker

    2011 August 31, Justin Kemble, quotee, “Feds Consulted Urban Dictionary In Threat Case”, in The Smoking Gun
    2 more examples

    That's why he was able to catch Crush out there sleeping and why he murked him before he could ask him any questions.

    2010, Dana Dane, Numbers, page 232

    In truth, there are Easter eggs planted in just about every frame of Ready Player One, which never misses an opportunity to insert a recognizable character (hey, is that Jason Voorhees getting merked during the film’s first-person shooter level?) or toss a sop to the faithful.

    2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2018
  2. ambitransitiveslangTo beat up; to injure.

    cause we be murkin from the boogie And shittin on the crowds 'cause they jive fakin woody.

    1991, Camp Lo, Coolie High
    2 more examples

    He clowned Sticks, and Sticks murked him for no reason. And I don't know for sure, but I think he murked Trail.

    2011, Treasure Hernandez, Baltimore Chronicles, volume 2

    Yas (Vivian Oparah): And where is this, uh, summit of doom taking place? Dom (David Jonsson): Il Giardino. There. Used to be "our" place. Yas: No. Absolutely not. Text her, you can't make it. We'll go to Laser Quest, merk some eight-year-olds.

    2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
  3. ambitransitiveslangTo eliminate; to defeat overwhelmingly.

    POV: You're about to get murked by two of Philly's finest on the court. | @myteamtoyota

    2022 March 5, NBC Sports PhiladelphiaTwitter

Synonyms & antonyms

nounDarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment.

Similar
gloom

More synonyms by meaning

nounan atmosphere in which visibility is reduced because of a cloud of some substance

Similar
fogfogginessmurkiness
Broader
atmosphereatmospheric state
Also see
fogfogginesskillmurkiness

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

murk · adjective

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mergʷ-“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”
  2. Proto-Germanic*merkuz“dark”
  3. Old Norsemyrkr“dark, murky”
  4. Old Englishmirce
  5. Middle Englishmerke
  6. Englishmurk

From Middle English merke, mirke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“dark, gloomy, evil”) and Old Norse myrkr (“dark, murky”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkuz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”). Cognate Danish mørk (“dark”), Norwegian mørk (“dark”), Swedish mörk (“dark”), Icelandic myrkur (“dark”), as also Albanian murg (“dark”), Proto-Slavic *morkъ (“darkness”), Lithuanian márgas (“multicolored”), murzinas (“dirty, spoiled”), Ancient Greek ἀμορβός (amorbós, “dark”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

murk · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mergʷ-“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”
  2. Proto-Germanic*merkwą
  3. Old Norsemyrkr“darkness, gloom”
  4. Old Englishmirce
  5. Middle Englishmirke
  6. Englishmurk

From Middle English mirke, merke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“darkness, gloom”) and Old Norse myrkr (“darkness, gloom”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkwą, *mirkwiz (“darkness”), Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

murk · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mergʷ-“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”
  2. Proto-Germanic*mirkwijaną
  3. Old Norsemyrkja
  4. Middle Englishmirken
  5. Englishmurk

From Middle English mirken, probably from Old Norse myrkja, myrkva (“to make dark, darken”), from Proto-Germanic *mirkwijaną, *mirkwajaną (“to make dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

murk · verb

Possibly an alteration of merc, from clipping of mercenary. First attested in the 1990s.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian мрак, затъмнявам
  • мрак (mrak)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • затъмнявам (zatămnjavam)to make murky or to be murky
Czech temno, temnota
  • temnodarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • temnotadarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • tmadarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • šerodarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
Polish ciemność, mrok
  • ciemnośćdarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • mrokdarkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • mętniećto make murky or to be murky
  • zmętniećto make murky or to be murky
Russian тьма, темнота́
  • тьма (tʹma)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • темнота́ (temnotá)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • мрак (mrak)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • затмевать (zatmevatʹ)to make murky or to be murky
Spanish enturbiar
  • enturbiarto make murky or to be murky
Ukrainian морок, темрява
  • морок (morok)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • темрява (temrjava)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment
  • пітьма (pitʹma)darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with murk

workclerkburkekirkdirkcirqueBourkecircreworkmercpercquirksmirkperkberserkburklurkerkshirkHercmerkirkbirkoverwork
All rhymes →

Anagrams

Krum
Cite this entry
APA

murk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murk

MLA

“murk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murk. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “murk,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murk.

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