prairie

See also: Prairie

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French prairie.

Pronunciation

• (Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛəɹi/
• (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): [ˈpɹɛɹi]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛəɹi

Noun

prairie (plural prairies)

1. An extensive area of relatively flat grassland with few, if any, trees, especially in North America.
   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.

Coordinate terms

• pampa
• savanna
• steppe

Derived terms

• Attwater's prairie chicken
• California coastal prairie
• camas prairie
• Canadian Prairies
• coastal prairie
• creeping white prairie aster (Symphyotrichum turbinellum, syn. Aster falcatus)
• dry-mesic prairie
• greater prairie chicken
• Gunnison's prairie dog
• lesser prairie chicken
• Long Prairie
• Pleasant Prairie
• pomme de prairie (Pediomelum esculentum), syn. Psoralea esculenta)
• Portage la Prairie
• prairie alligator (Phasmida spp.; Anisomorpha ferruginea)
• prairie anemone (Anemone caroliniana)
• prairie apple (Pediomelum esculentum)
• prairie aster (Symphyotrichum turbinellum, syn. Aster turbinellus, Machaeranthera tanacetifolia)
• prairie banana
• prairie bean (Phaseolus maculatus)
• prairie berry (Solanum elaeagnifolium)
• prairie bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus americanus)
• prairie bitters
• prairie bottom
• prairie brant (Anser albifrons)
• prairie-breaker
• prairie-breaking
• prairie buffalo (Bison bison)
• prairie burdock (Silphium terebinthinaceum)
• prairie-buster
• prairie button snakeroot (Liatris pycnostachya)
• prairie chicken dance
• prairie chicken (Tympanuchus spp.)
• Prairie City
• prairie climate
• prairie clipper
• prairie clover (Dalea spp.)
• prairie coal
• prairie cocktail
• prairie cock (Tympanuchus spp.)
• prairie coneflower (Ratibida columnifera)
• prairie conjunctivitis
• prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata)
• Prairie County
• prairie crab, prairie crab apple, prairie crabapple (Malus ioensis)
• Prairie Cree
• Prairie Creek
• prairie crocus (Pulsatilla patens)
• prairie cupgrass (Eriochloa contracta)
• prairied
• prairie deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
• prairie dock (Silphium perfoliatum, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Parthenium integrifolium)
• prairie dog (Cynomys spp.)
• prairiedom
• prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
• Prairie du Chien
• prairie fairy
• prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus)
• prairie false-dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata)
• prairie-fire
• prairie-formation
• prairie fowl
• prairie fox (Vulpes macrotis, Vulpes velox)
• prairie gentian (Eustoma exaltatum subsp. russellianum, syn. Eustoma russellianum)
• prairie golden aster (Heterotheca camporum, syn. Chrysopsis camporum)
• prairie goldenrod (Solidago ptarmicoides)
• prairie goose (Branta canadensis)
• prairie gourd, prairie gourd vine (Cucurbita foetidissima)
• prairie grass pink (Calopogon oklahomensis)
• prairie grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus)
• prairie hare (Lepus townsendii)
• prairie hawk
• prairie hen (Tympanuchus spp.)
• prairie hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus)
• prairie itch
• prairie kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster)
• prairie lake
• prairie lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus)
• prairie loo
• prairie lotus (Lotus americanus)
• prairie madness
• prairie mallow (Sidalcea spp.)
• prairie marmot (Cynomys spp.)
• prairie meet
• prairie mimosa (Desmanthus leptalobus)
• prairie mole cricket (Gryllotalpa major)
• prairie nigger
• prairie orchid (Platanthera spp.)
• prairie owl (Athene cunicularia)
• prairie oyster
• prairie pea (Lathyrus polymorphus, syn. Lathyrus decaphyllus)
• prairie phase
• prairie pigeon (Numenius borealis)
• prairie plough, prairie plow
• prairie plover (Charadrius montanus)
• prairie potato ( (Pediomelum esculentum), syn. Psoralea esculenta)
• prairie pothole
• Prairie Provinces
• prairie ragwort (Packera plattensis, (syn. Senecio plattensis))
• prairie rattler, prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis, Sistrurus catenatus)
• prairie-renovator
• prairie rent
• prairie restoration
• prairie rocket (Erysimum capitatum)
• prairie rose (Rosa arkansana, (wild prairie rose), Rosa caroliniana, syn. Rosa virginiana, Rosa blanda)
• prairie sage (Salvia azurea, Artemisia ludoviciana)
• prairie sagewort (Artemisia frigida)
• Prairie School
• prairie schooner
• prairie ship
• prairie shrew (Sorex haydeni)
• prairie skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis)
• prairie skirt
• prairie smoke (Pulsatilla patens et al)
• prairie snake (Masticophis flagellum)
• prairie snipe (Bartramia longicauda)
• prairie soil
• Prairie Spy
• prairie squint
• prairie squirrel (Ictidomys spp. - gopher)
• prairie star
• Prairie State
• Prairie style
• prairie sunflower (Helianthus petiolaris)
• prairie thistle (Cirsium canescens)
• prairie trefoil (Acmispon americanus)
• prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum)
• prairie turnip (Pediomelum esculentum), syn. Psoralea esculenta)
• prairie value
• prairie vetchling (Lathyrus polymorphus, syn. Lathyrus decaphyllus)
• Prairie Village
• prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster)
• prairie wagon
• prairie wake-robin (Trillium recurvatum)
• prairie warbler (Setophaga discolor)
• prairie ware
• prairie white-fringed orchid, prairie white-fringed orchis (Platanthera leucophaea)
• prairie willow (Salix humilis)
• prairie wolf
• prairie wool
• queen of the prairie, queen-of-the-prairie (Filipendula rubra, syn. Spiraea lobata)
• restored prairie
• salt prairie
• shaking prairie
• short-grass prairie
• Silicon Prairie
• smooth prairie star (Lithophragma glabrum)
• soda prairie
• Spring Prairie
• tall-grass prairie, tallgrass prairie
• trembling prairie
• urban prairie
• virgin prairie
• white prairie aster (Aster ericoides, now Symphyotrichum ericoides)

 

Related terms

• Prairial
• prairillon

Translations

An extensive area of relatively flat grassland

• Belarusian: прэ́рыя f (préryja)
• Bulgarian: пре́рия (bg) f (prérija)
• Catalan: praderia f
• Cherokee: ᎢᎪᏗ (igodi)
• Cheyenne: tóhtoo'e
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 草原 (zh) (cǎoyuán)

• Czech: prérie f
• Dakota: please add this translation if you can
• Danish: prærie c
• Estonian: preeria
• Finnish: preeria (fi)
• French: prairie (fr) f
• Galician: pradaría f
• German: Prärie (de) f
• Hebrew: עֲרָבָה (he) f ('aravá)
• Hidatsa: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: प्रेरी (prerī)
• Hungarian: préri (hu)
• Italian: prateria (it) f
• Japanese: プレーリー (purērī), 草原 (ja) (そうげん, sōgen)
• Korean: 프레리 (peureri), 초원 (ko) (chowon)
• Lakota: thíŋta
• Lithuanian: prerija f
• Macedonian: прерија f (prerija)
• Miami: mahkoteewi
• Navajo: halgai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: prærie m

  Nynorsk: prærie m

• Occitan: pradariá (oc) f
• Ojibwe: please add this translation if you can
• Omaha-Ponca: bahóⁿhoⁿ
• Osage: 𐓳𐓟𐓸𐓟 hcexé
• Plains Cree: ᐸᐢᑳᐧᐤ (paskwâw), ᒪᐢᑯᑌᐤ (maskotew)
• Plautdietsch: Spap f, Präarie f
• Polish: preria (pl) f
• Portuguese: prado (pt) m, pradaria f
• Romanian: prerie (ro) f
• Russian: пре́рия (ru) f (prérija)
• Serbo-Croatian: prȇrija (sh) f, пре̑рија f
• Slovak: préria f
• Spanish: pradera (es) f
• Swedish: prärie (sv) c
• Ukrainian: пре́рія f (prérija)
• Vietnamese: thảo nguyên (vi)
• Welsh: paith m

Further reading

• prairie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English prairie, from French prairie, from Middle French prairie, from Old French praerie, from Latin pratum. Re-borrowed from English after Middle Dutch praierie (also from Middle French prairie) fell out of use. Related to prieel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɛː.ri/, /ˈprɛ.ri/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prai‧rie

Noun

prairie f (plural prairies)

1. prairie [from ca. 1830s]
   • 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, De prairie, of Grazige woestijn van Noord-Amerika, vol. 1, tr. from English, A. & J. Honkoop (publ.), page 339.

     De slangen der Prairie zijn niet vergiftig, uitgezonderd eenige vergramde ratelslangen, welker ratel hen intusschen steeds aanmeldt, voor dat zij u eenig kwaad doen.

     The snakes of the prairie are not venomous, some angered rattlesnakes excepted, whose rattle in the meantime announces them each time, before they do any harm to you.

Derived terms

• prairiegras
• prairiehond
• prairie-indiaan
• prairiepaard
• prairiewolf

Related terms

• prairial
• prieel

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French praerie, from Latin prātum (“meadow”) + -aria, -arium. See also pré and -erie. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. in Old French inherited or borrowed from Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛ.ʁi/, /pʁe.ʁi/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

prairie f (plural prairies)

1. meadow, grassland, pasture, prairie

Derived terms

• chien de prairie

Further reading

• “prairie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• périrai, prierai, riperai