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Added 9 October 2026

swamp

/ˈswɒmp/ noun

In Latin: palūs Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about swamp at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog.
A situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables.
he was trapped in a medical swamp

verb

Drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged.
The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor
Fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid.
the basement was inundated after the storm

Origin

Early attestations (starting in 1624) are from North America, but the term was probably in local use in Britain earlier. The etymology is not entirely certain; it is probably a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh”, also “fungus, mushroom”) — from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), from Proto-West Germanic *swamm, from Proto-Germanic *swambaz, *swammaz — and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from either Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”) (from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”)), both from Proto-West Germanic *sump, from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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