saksaul

English

Alternative forms

• saxaul

Etymology

From Russian, from Kazakh.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsæksɔːl/

Noun

saksaul (plural saksauls)

1. A leafless shrub with greenish branches which grows on the Asian steppes.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 844-5:

     Oases, or distant smoky blurs of saksaul trees, appeared like moments of remission in lives of misfortune—rumored, hallucinated, prayed for, not always where they were supposed to be.