Pocosin
//pəˈkoʊsən// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A low, wooded swamp in (especially coastal) Eastern Maryland, Virginia or the Carolinas; a palustrine wetland with deep, acidic peat soils. US
"One has to go down "on all fours" to get below the dense tangle of vegetation. Each step in the soft peat is uncertain. The reward is a pocosin community full of wildflowers."
Example
More examples"One has to go down "on all fours" to get below the dense tangle of vegetation. Each step in the soft peat is uncertain. The reward is a pocosin community full of wildflowers."
Etymology
From an unknown Algonquian word, sometimes suggested to be one meaning "opening out" (the widening of a river, related to Ojibwe baakisin (“it is left open”)), or "swamp on a hill". Alternatively, perhaps related to Abenaki pôgwaso (“very shallow”).
Related phrases
More for "pocosin"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.