tussock
/ˈtʌs.ək/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.03 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Example Sentences
- "An Indian grazing ground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear."
- "Next morning I was off to Lochtully, which, as you know, is in the north of Perthshire. It stands three miles from the station, a great gray pinnacled house, with two towers cocking out above the fir woods, like a hare’s ears from a tussock of grass."
- "One Kashmiri morning in the early spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray."
- "I yearned, painfully, for […] a sight and touch of a hillside covered with golden tussock."
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”).
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtʌs.ək/
- British English: /ˈtʌs.ək/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
blue tussock
ficus tussock moth
hard tussock
nassella tussock
plumed tussock
red tussock
serrated tussock
sweet tussock