murky
/ˈmɜː(ɹ)ki/adjective
murky is spelled M-U-R-K-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, murky means “Hard to see through, as a fog or mist” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in murky?
| Letters | 5: M-U-R-K-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,745th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is murky?
Murky appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,745th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce murky?
- /ˈmɜː(ɹ)ki/
Murky has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-murky.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of murky
- murkier comparative
- murkiest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does murky mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Hard to see through, as a fog or mist.
- 2
Dark, dim, gloomy.
- 3
Cloudy, indistinct, obscure.
murky waters
- 4
Dishonest, shady.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Murky in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense hard to see through:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does murky come from?
From Middle English mirky. Related to Old Norse myrkr, Russian мрак (mrak) and its Slavic cognates. By surface analysis, murk + -y.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).