pucksy
/ˈpʌksi/
Etymology
Unclear. The English Dialect Dictionary and Dictionary of the Scots Language mention a northeastern Scottish (Banff) dialectal word pouk "hole in the ground, usually waterlogged or marshy" which could be related (compare also pughole); the DSL considers that pouk to be the same word as the verb pouk (“to poke, to thrust”), and notes that in Banff pouk also means "dig or excavate in a careless, clumsy way, damage by excavation or holing". Alternatively, compare pock (“pit”). (In the 1800s, Halliwell-Phillipps speculated that the mires might be named in reference to the folk belief that pucksies/pucks (“mischievous or hostile spirits”) led travelers astray, potentially into bogs.
pucksy means an area of miry or swampy ground; a place (in a road, field, etc) where a spring rises, or where rain pools, and keeps the ground miry. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 100 out of 100.
pucksy is pronounced /ˈpʌksi/.
Why “pucksy” is a great word
PUCKSY — [Noun] A small, treacherous patch of miry ground, or a spirit of localized, petty malice. Origin unclear; possibly related to the Banff dialect word pouk ("hole in the ground, waterlogged area"), itself likely from the verb pouk ("to poke, thrust, or dig clumsily"), or from pock ("pit"). A folk etymology connects it to puck ("mischievous spirit") with the diminutive suffix -sy. Unlike a "bog"—a deep, established landscape of peat and slow decay—or a "pixie"—a defined, often playful folklore being—a pucksy is a minor, insidious hazard of place or presence. It is the boot-sucking grip of a meadow's one dishonest patch, the cold seep through wool socks in what seemed firm ground, and the faint, mocking laugh from the reeds when you are suddenly mired. A reminder that malice, like water, finds the lowest ground.
noun
- An area of miry or swampy ground; a place (in a road, field, etc) where a spring rises, or where rain pools, and keeps the ground miry.“For quotations using this term, see Citations:pucksy.”
- A puck (mischievous or hostile spirit) or pixie.“For quotations using this term, see Citations:pucksy.”