Querk

//kwɜːk// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate. transitive
  2. 2
    To grunt, croak, squeal; to moan, complain; to sigh, huff; to emit a breath forcibly, as after great exertion. intransitive
  3. 3
    To die. dialectal, intransitive

Etymology

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.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.