undergrowth

US/ˈʌndɚˌɡɹoʊθ/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,597 of 15,258leans written

Undergrowth is the tangle of bushes and plants under the forest trees. Thick undergrowth, hack through the undergrowth, cleared the undergrowth.

It is where most woodland life actually is — nesting, feeding and cover all happen there rather than in the canopy, which is why clearing it for tidiness costs a wood dearly. It grows thickest where light reaches the floor. Note that the compound is under plus growth.

Definitions of undergrowth

1nounundergrowthThe bushes and plants growing under forest trees.B2+
“A deer crashed through the undergrowth and disappeared into the forest.”

undergrowth is vegetation.

Where it comes from

Under plus growth, a plain English compound. West Frisian has the same compound.

From under- + growth. Cognate with West Frisian ûndergroei (“undergrowth”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Nature & Weather, Trees & Flowers

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undergrowth in the wild

At the same time, the bushes, undergrowth, and plant life on the forest floor become denser.
Understory
The teeth of the more traditional fire rake which resemble the teeth of a great white shark allow it to penetrate deeper into the undergrowth when necessary.
Fire rake
The platform foundations at Crowlands are still in existence in the undergrowth, although they are not visible from street level as the railway is on an embankment.
Crowlands railway station
There are more natural areas of undergrowth at the borders of the park and along the banks of the brook.
Watling Park
Today, the buildings, like the battery below, have become dilapidated and are subject to undergrowth and vandalism.
East Weare Camp

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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