chaparral

英 [,ʃæpə'ræl; ,tʃ-] 美 [,ʃæpə'ræl]
  • n. 丛林;茂密的树丛
  • n. (Chaparral)人名;(西)查帕拉尔
chaparral
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chaparral 小木丛

来自西班牙语chaparro, 木丛,橡木丛。

chaparral (n.)
"shrub thicket," 1850, American English, from Spanish chaparro "evergreen oak," perhaps from Basque txapar "little thicket," diminutive of sapar "heath, thicket."
In Spain, a chaparral is a bush of a species of oak. The termination al signifies a place abounding in; as, chaparral, a place of oak-bushes, almendral, an almond orchard; parral, a vineyard; cafetal, a coffee plantation, etc., etc.

This word, chaparral, has been introduced into the language since our acquisition of Texas and New Mexico, where these bushes abound. It is a series of thickets, of various sizes, from one hundred yards to a mile through, with bushes and briars, all covered with thorns, and so closely entwined together as almost to prevent the passage of any thing larger than a wolf or hare. [John Russell Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1859]