Meaning

noun shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane of from volcanic activity

verb shake with fast, tremulous movements

verb shake with seismic vibrations

originFrom Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), itself likely of imitative origin. Related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vexō (“toss,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0