tussock
/ˈtʌs.ək/noun
tussock is a noun meaning “A tuft or clump of green grass or similar verdure, forming a small hillock” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled T-U-S-S-O-C-K and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 9 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of tussock is tussocks.
What does tussock mean?
noun
- 1
A tuft or clump of green grass or similar verdure, forming a small hillock.
- 2
Tussock grass.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce tussock?
- US /ˈtʌs.ək/
Tussock has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tussock.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of tussock
- tussocks plural
- tussac
- tussack
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is tussock?
Tussock appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 91,522nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Tussock in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense tuft or clump of grass or verdure:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tussack |
| German | Grasbüschel |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does tussock come from?
Uncertain. Likely from or related to tusk + -ock (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle High German zūsach (“thicket”), a derivative of Middle High German zūse (“lock of hair”). Compare also Scottish Gaelic dosag (“little tuft”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).