querk

Meanings

verbquerk (third-person singular simple present querks, present participle querking, simple past and past participle querked)

present singular third person querks · participle present querking · participle past querked · past querked · alternative quirk

transitiveTo throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate.
intransitiveTo grunt, croak, squeal; to moan, complain; to sigh, huff; to emit a breath forcibly, as after great exertion.
dialectalintransitiveTo die.

From Middle English querken (also as querkenen), from Old Norse kvirkja (“to strangle”), from Proto-Germanic *kwirkijaną, from Proto-Germanic *kwerkō (“gullet, throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷergʷ-, *gʷerkʷ-, *gʷerw- (“throat, neck”). Cognate with Old Frisian querka ("to strangle"; > North Frisian querke, quirke (“to querk”)), Danish kværke (“to throttle, strangle, suffocate”), Icelandic kyrkja, kvirkja (“to throttle, strangle”), Middle Low German querken (“to strangle”), Middle Low German querke, quarke (“throat, gullet”), Old High German querka, querkela (“throat, gullet”), Latin gurguliō (“throat”). More at gurgle.

Cite this entry

APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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