steppe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a vast, largely treeless grassland, especially the dry temperate plains of southeastern Europe and central Asia

   Herds moved across the open steppe in search of fresh grazing.

Borrowed through German Steppe or French steppe from Russian step, 'flat grassy plain.' The word became an international geographic term for the broad, comparatively dry grasslands extending across Eurasia and for similar treeless regions elsewhere.

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