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

Those inspection stations are intended to intercept another quagga outbreak before the mollusks even have a chance to enter Idaho waters. —Alex Music august 17, Idaho Statesman, 17 Aug. 2025

In 1984, researchers detected traces of mitochondrial DNA in the skin of a taxidermied quagga in a museum. —D. T. Max, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025

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

Caroffino said tribal crews' need for gill netting to improve harvests has risen with the collapse of whitefish populations, which have suffered as invasive quagga mussels have gobbled up plankton and unraveled food chains. —John Flesher, USA TODAY, 13 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