grove

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a small growth of trees without underbrush
  2. noun garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth

Etymology

From Middle English grove, grave, from Old English grāf, grāfa (“grove; copse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graib, *graibō (“branch, group of branches, thicket”), from Proto-Germanic *graibaz, *graibô (“branch, fork”). Related to Old English grǣf, grǣfe (“brushwood; thicket; copse”), Old English grǣfa (“thicket”), dialectal Norwegian greive (“ram with splayed horns”), dialectal Norwegian greivlar (“ramifications of an antler”), dialectal Norwegian grivla (“to branch, branch out”), Old Norse grein (“twig, branch, limb”). More at greave.

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