different between murk vs obscurity

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /m?k/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English merke, mirke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“dark, gloomy, evil”) and Old Norse myrkr (“dark, murky”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkuz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *merg?- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”). Cognate Danish mørk (“dark”), Norwegian mørk (“dark”), Swedish mörk (“dark”), Icelandic myrkur (“dark”), as also Albanian murg (“dark”), Proto-Slavic *mork? (“darkness”), Lithuanian márgas (“multicolored”), Ancient Greek ??????? (amorbós, “dark”).

Alternative forms

• mirk (archaic)
• mark (dialectal)

Adjective

murk (comparative murker, superlative murkest)

1. Dark, murky
   • J. R. Drake

     He cannot see through the mantle murk.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:mirk.

Derived terms

• murken

Etymology 2

From Middle English mirke, merke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“darkness, gloom”) and Old Norse myrkr (“darkness, gloom”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkw?, *mirkwiz (“darkness”), Proto-Indo-European *merg?- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

Noun

murk (uncountable)

1. Darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment.

   Synonym: gloom

Derived terms

• murky

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English mirken, probably from Old Norse myrkja, myrkva (“to make dark, darken”), from Proto-Germanic *mirkwijan?, *mirkwajan? (“to make dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *merg?- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

Verb

murk (third-person singular simple present murks, present participle murking, simple past and past participle murked)

1. To make murky or be murky; to cloud or obscure, or to be clouded or obscured.
   • 1918: Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons [1]

     Dawn had been murking through the smoky windows, growing stronger for half an hour...

Translations

Etymology 4

Possibly an alteration of merc, from clipping of mercenary.

Alternative forms

• merk

Verb

murk (third-person singular simple present murks, present participle murking, simple past and past participle murked)

1. (African-American Vernacular, MLE) To murder or seriously injure.
   • 1991, Camp Lo, Coolie High

     cause we be murkin from the boogie

     And shittin on the crowds

     'cause they jive fakin woody.

   • 2010, Dana Dane, Numbers (page 232)

     That's why he was able to catch Crush out there sleeping and why he murked him before he could ask him any questions.

   • 2011, Treasure Hernandez, Baltimore Chronicles (volume 2)

     He clowned Sticks, and Sticks murked him for no reason. And I don't know for sure, but I think he murked Trail.

Anagrams

• Krum

English

Etymology

From Middle French obscurité, from Latin obsc?rit?s; synchronically analyzable as obscure +? -ity

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?skj????ti/, /?b?skj????ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?skj???ti/, /?b?skj??ti/
• Hyphenation: ob?scur?ity

Noun

obscurity (countable and uncountable, plural obscurities)

1. (literary) Darkness; the absence of light.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 24

     I walked in, and Stroeve followed me. The room was in darkness. I could only see that it was an attic, with a sloping roof; and a faint glimmer, no more than a less profound obscurity, came from a skylight.

2. The state of being unknown; a thing that is unknown.
3. The quality of being difficult to understand; a thing that is difficult to understand.

Synonyms

• (the state of being unknown): unknownness

Antonyms

• (the state of being known): fame
• (the state of being clear): clarity

Related terms

• obscure

Translations