quagga

noun

quag·​ga ˈkwa-gə  ˈkwä- 

plural quaggas

1

: an extinct zebra (Equus quagga quagga) of southern Africa that had brown and white stripes chiefly on the head and neck, reddish-brown to brown upper parts, and whitish belly, tail, and legs

The last living quagga died at the Amsterdam Zoo in 1883 …

—Donald G. McNeil Jr.

The quagga, a subspecies of zebra, was once common in South Africa, but European settlers hunted them to the extreme for the meat and fur.

—Elana Glowatz

2

: quagga mussel

Native to Ukraine, the quagga now infests the [Great] lakes in even greater numbers than its invasive-species cousin the zebra mussel.

—Bill McGraw

Examples of quagga in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The ecological damage wrought by zebra mussels is minor compared with their cousin, the quagga mussel. —Dan Egan, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019

Round gobies aggressively consume zebra and quagga mussels. —Fiorella Ikeue, National Geographic, 17 Nov. 2020

Other invasives—mostly quagga mussels—have already stripped the lake of its food. —Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 22 Sep. 2017

Of particular interest for the Great Lakes are quagga mussels, said Harvey Bootsma, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee lake scientist. —John Flesher, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Dec. 2022

Word History

Etymology

obsolete Afrikaans (now kwagga), from Khoikhoi quácha

First Known Use

1780, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing quagga

• quagga mussel