# squash

> English word · Noun · IPA /skwɒʃ/ · frequency rank #12,506

## Definitions
1. A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
2. A non-alcoholic drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water or milk.
3. A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.
4. A preparation made by placing material on a slide (flat, rectangular piece of glass), covering it and applying pressure.
5. Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
6. Something unripe or soft.
7. A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.
8. An extremely one-sided, usually short, match.

## Etymology
From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).

## Easily confused with
- **stash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-stash)
- **squat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-squat)
- **squaw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-squaw)
- **squish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-squish)
- **squishy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-squishy)
- **squashed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squash-vs-squashed)
- **sash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sash-vs-squash)
- **squad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squad-vs-squash)
- **smash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smash-vs-squash)
- **slash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/slash-vs-squash)
- **slush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/slush-vs-squash)
- **shush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shush-vs-squash)
- **square** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/square-vs-squash)
- **splash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/splash-vs-squash)
- **squall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/squall-vs-squash)

## Common misspellings (9)
`qsuash`, `sqaush`, `sqquash`, `squahs`, `squashh`, `squassh`, `squsah`, `ssquash`, `suqash`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/squash