chaparral

chaparral

English

A chaparral in California

Etymology

From Spanish chaparral, from chaparro (“evergreen oak”) + -al, from Basque txaparro, from txapar, from sapar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʃæp.əˈɹæl/, /ˌt͡ʃæp.əˈɹæl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌʃæp.əˈɹæl/, /ˌʃæp.əˈɹɛl/, [ˌʃæp.ɚˈ(ɹ)æl], [ˌʃæp.ɚˈ(ɹ)ɛl]
• Rhymes: -æl, -ɛl
• (US) Hyphenation: chap‧ar‧ral

Noun

chaparral (countable and uncountable, plural chaparrals)

1. (US) A region of shrubs, typically dry in the summer and rainy in the winter. The coast of the Mediterranean is such a region.

   Coordinate term: macchia

   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart:

     It was quite dark when, after an arduous climb, the sheriff made his tortuous way through the chaparral to the point where Anthony Garland should be stationed.

   • 1973, Al Jardine (lyrics and music), “California Saga (California)”, in Holland, performed by The Beach Boys:

     Have you ever been south of Monterey? / Barrancas carve the coastline / And the chaparral flows to the sea / 'Neath waves of golden sunshine

   • 2021 February 10, Grayson Haver Currin, quoting Chuck Johnson, “Chuck Johnson’s Ode to What’s Been Lost in California’s Fires”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     “Look at all the chaparral on California’s coast — it’s all about surviving that kind of fire cycle.”

2. The foliage of creosote bush, Larrea divaricata, when used as a medicinal herb.

Derived terms

• chaparral bird
• chaparral cock
• chaparral hen

Translations

region of shrubs

Basque: txapardi Esperanto: ĉaparalo French: maquis (fr) Greek: θαμνώνες m pl (thamnónes), θαμνότοπος (el) m (thamnótopos) Romanian: chaparral n Spanish: chaparral (es) m

Further reading

• chaparral on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “chaparral”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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Spanish

Etymology

From chaparro +‎ -al, from Basque txaparro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃapaˈral/ [t͡ʃa.paˈral]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: cha‧pa‧rral

Noun

chaparral m (plural chaparrales)

1. chaparral

Descendants

• → English: chaparral

Further reading

• “chaparral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014