Champaign

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈʃæmpeɪn/

Definitions

1. An extensive, level area of open land, typically used for farming or natural landscape
2. A broad and flat stretch of terrain without significant trees or hills
3. A vast plain of land characterized by its openness and lack of elevation

Etymology: The English word "champaign" is a near-twin of "campaign," and the two share a root that once meant nothing more than open ground. Latin "campus" meant a field or plain, and the Late Latin derivative "campānia" referred to a flat, open country. That Late Latin form passed into Old French as "champaigne," and English borrowed it from there, so the landscape sense arrived via French rather than directly from Latin. Its doublet relationship with "campaign" is what makes it stand out. "Campaign" came into English from Italian and French forms of the same Latin root, and it carried the sense of an open field where armies could maneuver before it came to mean a military operation. "Champaign" kept the older, geographic sense, so the two words diverged while staying rooted in the same patch of flat ground.