Other forms: terrains
Terrain is the kind of ground you must travel over — rocky, flat, or swampy. Difficult terrain, rough terrain, know the terrain.
It describes the ground as an obstacle or an advantage rather than as scenery, which is why the word belongs to soldiers, walkers and engineers. Figuratively it means the general lie of a subject. The Latin terra means earth.
1nounterrainThe kind of ground to be travelled over.
“The jeep was built for rough terrain, like rocky hills and muddy tracks.”
terrain is ground.
French terrain comes from Latin terrenum, ground, from terra, earth. Terrace and territory are relatives.
Proto-Indo-European
*ters-
Latin
terrenum — land, ground
French
terrain
English, today
terrain
Built from
French terrain, from Latin terrenum (“land, ground”), neuter of terrenus (“consisting of earth”), from terra (“earth”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA