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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

quake.

A trembling or shaking.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/kweɪk/General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. A trembling or shaking.

    We felt a quake in the apartment every time the train went by.

  2. An earthquake, a trembling of the ground with force.

    California is plagued by quakes; there are a few minor ones almost every month.

  3. Something devastating, like a strong earthquake.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), itself likely of imitative origin. Related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vexō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).

verb/kweɪk/General-American, Received-Pronunciation

  1. To tremble or shake.

    intransitive
    I felt the ground quaking beneath my feet.

  2. To be in a state of fear, shock, amazement, etc., such as might cause one to tremble.

    figuratively · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), itself likely of imitative origin. Related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vexō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).

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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.