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murk

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murk¹

  • /mɝk/ US
  • /mɜːk/ UK

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

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”).

adjective murker · murkest · mirk · mark

  1. Dark, murky. He cannot see through the mantle murk.

murk²

  • /mɝk/ US
  • /mɜːk/ UK

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

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”).

noun

  1. uncountable Darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment. […]in murk and occidental damp

    Similar: gloom

murk³

  • /mɝk/ US
  • /mɜːk/ UK

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

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”).

verb murks · murking · murked

  1. intransitive To 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...

murk⁴

  • /mɝk/ US
  • /mɜːk/ UK

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)k

Where it comes from

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

verb murks · murking · murked · merk

  1. ambitransitive, slang To kill or eliminate. That's why he was able to catch Crush out there sleeping and why he murked him before he could ask him any questions.
  2. ambitransitive, slang To beat up; to injure. cause we be murkin from the boogie And shittin on the crowds 'cause they jive fakin woody.
  3. ambitransitive, slang To eliminate; to defeat overwhelmingly. POV: You're about to get murked by two of Philly's finest on the court. | @myteamtoyota

Translations

Every language

noun darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment

Русскийтьма tʹma, темнота́ temnotá, мрак mrak

verb to make murky or to be murky

Españolenturbiar
Русскийзатмевать zatmevatʹ

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Cite this
MLA

"murk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/murk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

murk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/murk

Chicago

"murk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/murk.

BibTeX
@misc{murk_2026,
  title = {murk},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/murk},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}