murky

See also: Murky

English

Alternative forms

mirky

Etymology

From Middle English mirky; equivalent to murk +‎ -y. Related to Old Norse myrkr, Russian мрак (mrak), Serbo-Croatian мра̑к.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmɜː(ɹ)ki/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ki

Adjective

murky (comparative murkier, superlative murkiest)

Hard to see through, as a fog or mist.
- 1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Streets by Night”, in Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 19:
  The Streets of London, to be beheld in the very height of their glory, should be seen on a dark, dull, murky, winter's night, when there is just enough damp gently stealing down to make the pavement greasy without cleansing it of any of its impurities, […]
Dark, dim, gloomy.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 14:
  Ferdinand: As I hope / For quite dayes, faire Iſſue, and long life, / With ſuch loue, as 'tis now the murkieſt den, / The moſt opportune place, the ſtrongſt ſuggeſtion, / Our worſer Genius can, shall neuer melt / Mine honor into luſt, […]
Cloudy, indistinct, obscure.
murky waters

murky territory
- 2021 April 21, Anatoly Liberman, “Going out on a Limb”, in Oxford Etymologist‎^[1]:
  They may face an impenetrable word, approach its murky history from every direction, and fail to find a convincing solution (or even any solution: “origin unknow,” “the rest is unclear,” and the like).
- 2022 October 28, Maria Cramer, “Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Mr. Farrier, 39, said he often questioned the moral implications of his trips. “It’s very ethically murky territory,” Mr. Farrier said.
- 2022 December 23, Keith Bradsher, Amy Chang Chien, Joy Dong, “As Cases Explode, China’s Low Covid Death Toll Convinces No One”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:
  China’s murky statistics are fueling widespread public distrust. Its narrow definition of Covid deaths “will very much underestimate the true death toll,” the W.H.O. says.
(by extension) Dishonest, shady.

Synonyms

dark

Derived terms

Related terms

murk

Translations

hard to see through

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: каламутны (kalamutny)
Bulgarian: мътен (bg) (mǎten)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Danish: uigennemsigtig
Dutch: troebel (nl), troebele (nl)
Emilian: scûr
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: samea (fi), sakea (fi)
French: sombre (fr), trouble (fr)
Georgian: ბნელი (bneli), შავბნელი (šavbneli), უკუნი (uḳuni), დაბინდული (dabinduli)
German: düster (de), trüb (de)
Greek: please add this translation if you can
Hebrew: עכור (he) m (akhúr), מטושטוש m (metushtásh), מעומעם m (meum'ám)
Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
Irish: modartha
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Khmer: ល្អក់ (km) (lʼɑk)
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latin: turbidus
Romanian: tulbure (ro)
Russian: му́тный (ru) (mútnyj)
Scots: mirk
Spanish: turbio (es)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: bulanık (tr)
Ukrainian: каламутний (kalamutnyj)
Vietnamese: đục (vi)

dark, dim, gloomy — see gloomy

cloudy, indistinct, obscure — see obscure

dishonest, shady

Danish: skummel
Finnish: hämäräperäinen (fi)
Russian: тёмный (ru) (tjómnyj), гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} myrkr