Velds

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A vast expanse of grassland in southern Africa, typically featuring low vegetation and supporting various animal species
2. An extensive flat terrain characterized by grass and shrubbery, prevalent in southern Africa and teeming with wildlife
3. A large, open area of grassy land commonly found in southern Africa that supports diverse flora and fauna

Etymology: "Velds" is the plural of "veld", which in its everyday sense means open grassland in southern Africa. The noun is a plain borrowing from Afrikaans, where "veld" comes from Dutch "veld", meaning "field" or "open country". That Dutch word traces back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "field, plain", so it sits in the same family as English "field". The surprise is that "veld" and "field" are doublets: two words that split from one ancestor and then went different ways. English kept "field" for cultivated or enclosed land and for the sporting ground, while Dutch settlers carried their word to South Africa, where it came to name the wide, treeless plains they found there. The English form "veldt", with a final "t", was common in older writing before the spelling settled on "veld".

Synonyms: grasslands, savannas, meadows