Bocages

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of landscape characterized by dense growth of trees and shrubs forming a natural enclosure or barrier
2. An ecological area featuring hedgerows and groves that provide habitats for various wildlife
3. Describing cultivated lands or regions that are subdivided by a network of plants creating privacy and shelter

Etymology: "Bocages" is the plural of "bocage," so the history belongs to the singular. The French "bocage" originally meant a wood or grove, and it comes from "boscage," a collective noun formed from "bosc," meaning wood or thicket. That French word likely descends from a Germanic source, probably Frankish, related to the word that gave English "bush." The landscape sense came later and grew out of the woodland meaning. In regions such as Normandy and Brittany, farmers enclosed their fields with earth banks topped by hedgerows and trees, creating a patchwork of small, sheltered plots. French speakers applied their old word for thicket to this countryside, so a term for trees ended up naming a land shaped by them.

Synonyms: thickets, groves

Antonyms: clearing, open space