loess

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind

Borrowed from German Löss (“yellowish-gray soil”), from Alemannic German lösch (“loose”). Cognate with German los and English lease.

Firstly we have the loess or firm sand, which can be cultivated; and secondly the disintegrated desert sand, which forms itself into heaps and causes sandstorms when the wind is high. — Southern Arabia, J. Theodore (James Theodore) Bent

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