Palsa

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hummock rising out of a bog with a core of ice; similar in appearance to a pingo but due to different structure palsas cannot grow as big as pingos.

    "Peat plateaux are larger landforms formed by the coalescence of palsas. String bogs, also called patterned fens, occur in muskeg. They are alternations of thin, string-like strips or ridges of peat, mainly Sphagnum moss, which may[…]"

Example

More examples

"Peat plateaux are larger landforms formed by the coalescence of palsas. String bogs, also called patterned fens, occur in muskeg. They are alternations of thin, string-like strips or ridges of peat, mainly Sphagnum moss, which may[…]"

Etymology

From Finnish palsa, from Northern Sami balsa.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.