Forestation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/

Definitions

1. The act of establishing forested areas by planting trees in a region where there were no forests before
2. The process of increasing tree coverage in an area through planting to form a forest habitat
3. The practice of creating new forests by sowing or planting trees where forests did not previously exist

Etymology: "Forestation" is a plain English formation: the noun "forest" with the suffix "-ation" attached. That suffix comes ultimately from Latin "-atio", a noun-forming ending meaning the act or process of doing something, which passed into English through Old French and Middle English. English has used "-ation" to build process nouns from countless verbs and nouns, from "creation" to "nationalisation." The base word "forest" has a more tangled history than the suffix. It entered English from Old French "forest," which was used for uncultivated hunting land, probably from Medieval Latin "foresta," with its exact origin still debated. The word meant a royal hunting preserve before it came to mean a dense tract of trees. Put together, "forestation" describes the act of turning open land into woodland, usually by planting trees, and it is a relatively modern coinage in this sense, built from the older noun rather than inherited from any classical term.

Synonyms: afforestation, reforestation, tree planting, woodland creation

Antonyms: deforestation