brackish

[brak-ish]

adjective

1. somewhat salty or briny, as the water in an estuary or salt marsh, which is not as salty as the sea but saltier than a river.

   These brackish swamps are some of the state’s most important ecosystems.

2. distasteful; unpleasant.

   The coffee was brackish and stale.

brackish

/ ˈbrækɪʃ /

adjective

1. (of water) slightly briny or salty

brackish

1. Containing a mixture of seawater and fresh water. Brackish water is somewhat salty.

Other Word Forms

• brackishness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of brackish¹

First recorded in 1550–60; from Dutch brak “salty” + -ish ¹ (in the sense “somewhat”)

Word History and Origins

Origin of brackish¹

C16: from Middle Dutch brac salty; see _-ish

Example Sentences

Just outside the city, it is pumping brackish groundwater from wells and discharging it into the Nueces River, which flows into a water treatment plant.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It has brackish waters, a mix of fresh and salt.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Homes are crumbling, open drains line the narrow lanes and a stagnant puddle near the local temple has turned brackish.

Read more on BBC

The surface is now home to scavengers, soldiers, mutants, and ghouls, all doing their best to survive on spoiled food, brackish water, and whatever’s left in long-abandoned vending machines.

Read more on Salon

But soon after the scientists — of the trained, in-training and citizen variety — shimmied large nets that functioned as sieves into the brackish water, gleeful cries began to ring out.

Read more on Los Angeles Times