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

In 1984, traces of mitochondrial DNA had been found in the skin of a taxidermied quagga, a zebra-like species that had been hunted to extinction in the 1800s. —Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2026

Most of the invasive mussels in Lake Michigan are quagga, which do not need to anchor to a hard surface like zebras do. —Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 20 Jan. 2026

While this could never truly bring the quagga back, this project is still both a valiant and symbolic attempt to restore what once was. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025

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

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