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Added 9 October 2026

fog

/fɒɡ/ noun

In Latin: cālīgō, nebula Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fog at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A thick cloud that forms near the ground; the obscurity of such a cloud.
a bank of fog
A mist or film clouding a surface.
A state of mind characterized by lethargy and confusion.
He did so many drugs, he was still in a fog three months after going through detox.

verb

To become covered with or as if with fog.
To become obscured in condensation or water.
The mirror fogged every time he showered.
To become dim or obscure.

noun

A new growth of grass appearing on a field that has been mowed or grazed.
Tall and decaying grass left standing after the cutting or grazing season.

verb

To pasture cattle on the fog (of), or aftergrass, of; to eat off the fog from (a field).
To become covered with the kind of grass called fog.

Origin

Origin uncertain; but probably of North Germanic origin. Probably either a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall grass; thick, marshy”), from the earlier-attested fog (“tall grass”) (see below), or from or related to Danish fog (“spray, shower, drift, storm”), related to Icelandic fok (“spray, any light thing tossed by the wind, snowdrift”), Icelandic fjúka (“to blow, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to whisk, blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pug- (“billow, bulge, drift”), from *pew-, *pow- (“to blow, drift, billow”), in which case related to German fauchen (“to hiss, spit, spray”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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