Saxaul

//ˈsæksɔːl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Either of two species of the amaranth genus Haloxylon: Haloxylon ammodendron (syn. Haloxylon aphyllum; black saxaul) and Haloxylon persicum (white saxaul), found in sandy habitats from Egypt to Mongolia and China.

Etymology

From Russian саксау́л (saksaúl), via a Turkic variety (cf. Bashkir саҡсауыл (saqsawıl), Kazakh сексеуіл (sekseuıl)), ultimately from Kalmyk [script needed] (zaɣzāml̥, “a bush growing in the desert”), compare Mongolian заг (zag, “saxaul”), Kalmyk за (za).

Related phrases

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