Syrtis

//sərtəz// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of quicksand. archaic
  2. 2
    Synonym of bog. archaic

    "... Quenched in a boggy syrtis, neither sea Nor good dry land ..."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bogquicksandsirte

Example

More examples

"... Quenched in a boggy syrtis, neither sea Nor good dry land ..."

Etymology

From Latin syrtis, from Syrtis (“Sirte, Gulf of Syrtis”), from Ancient Greek Σύρτις (Súrtis), an area of Libya proverbially treacherous for sailing owing to the effect of wind and waves on its quicksand. Doublet of Sirte.

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