Tussock

//ˈtʌs.ək// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tuft or clump of green grass or similar verdure, forming a small hillock.

    "An Indian grazing ground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear."

  2. 2
    a bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass wordnet
  3. 3
    Tussock grass.

    "I yearned, painfully, for […] a sight and touch of a hillside covered with golden tussock."

Synonyms

All synonyms
batchbunchclumpclustercopsecrop

Example

More examples

"An Indian grazing ground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear."

Etymology

Uncertain. Likely from or related to tusk + -ock (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle High German zūsach (“thicket”), a derivative of Middle High German zūse (“lock of hair”). Compare also Scottish Gaelic dosag (“little tuft”).

Related phrases

blue tussockficus tussock mothhard tussocknassella tussockplumed tussockred tussockserrated tussocksweet tussocktussock bellflowertussock caterpillartussock grasstussock moth

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