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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

earthquake.

A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic activity or movement around geologic faults.

10 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɜːθkweɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɝθkweɪk/General-American

  1. A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic activity or movement around geologic faults.

  2. Such a quake specifically occurring on the planet Earth, as opposed to other celestial bodies.

  3. A sudden and intense upheaval; a severely disruptive event.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old English eorþe Middle English erthe Proto-Germanic *kwakōnąder. Old English cwacian Middle English quaken Middle English erthequake English earthquake From Middle English erthequake, corresponding to earth + quake. Displaced Middle English eorð byfung (“earthquake”) from Old English eorþbeofung (literally “earth shaking”).

verb/ˈɜːθkweɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɝθkweɪk/General-American

  1. To undergo an earthquake.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old English eorþe Middle English erthe Proto-Germanic *kwakōnąder. Old English cwacian Middle English quaken Middle English erthequake English earthquake From Middle English erthequake, corresponding to earth + quake. Displaced Middle English eorð byfung (“earthquake”) from Old English eorþbeofung (literally “earth shaking”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.