squat

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun exercising by repeatedly assuming a crouching position with the knees bent; strengthens the leg muscles
  2. noun a small worthless amount
  3. noun the act of assuming or maintaining a crouching position with the knees bent and the buttocks near the heels

Etymology

From Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir, escatir (“compress, press down, lay flat, crush”), from es- (“ex-”) + quatir (“press down, flatten”), from Vulgar Latin *coactire (“press together, force”), from Latin coāctus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”). The sense “nothing” is synchronically analyzable as a clipping of diddly-squat, although diachronically the direction of derivation is uncertain.

In classic literature

Synonyms

knee bend, squatting

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