muskeg

[muhs-keg]

See more synonyms for muskeg on Thesaurus.com

noun

a bog of northern North America, commonly having sphagnum mosses, sedge, and sometimes stunted black spruce and tamarack trees.

Origin of muskeg

1765–75; < Cree maske·k < Proto-Algonquian *maŝkye·kwi swamp

Also called mas·keg [mas-keg] /ˈmæs kɛg/.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for muskeg

bog, fen, glade, marsh, marshland, mire, moor, morass, mud, quag, quagmire, slough, swampland, everglade, holm, polder, swale, wetland

Examples from the Web for muskeg

Historical Examples of muskeg

We certainly had muskeg enough yesterday and the day before.
The Young Alaskans in the Rockies
Emerson Hough
To my notion, this looks considerable like a muskeg just on ahead of us.
The Young Alaskans in the Rockies
Emerson Hough
None the less, here is the muskeg, and here we are with our horses, and we must get across.
The Young Alaskans in the Rockies
Emerson Hough
The muskeg, I must remind you, was drained and nothing found.
Prescott of Saskatchewan
Harold Bindloss
It was a five-dollar bill on the same bank we found at the muskeg!
Prescott of Saskatchewan
Harold Bindloss

British Dictionary definitions for muskeg

muskeg

noun mainly Canadian

undrained boggy land characterized by sphagnum moss vegetationvast areas of muskeg
a bog or swamp of this nature

Word Origin for muskeg

C19: from Algonquian: grassy swamp

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for muskeg

kind of moss bog, 1865, from a Cree Indian word.