fescue

American  

[fes-kyoo] / ˈfɛs kyu /

noun

1. Also called fescue grass.  any grass of the genus Festuca, some species of which are cultivated for pasture or lawns.

2. a pointer, as a straw or slender stick, used to point out the letters in teaching children to read.

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fescue British  

/ ˈfɛskjuː /

noun

1. any grass of the genus Festuca : widely cultivated as pasture and lawn grasses, having stiff narrow leaves See also meadow fescue sheep's fescue

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Etymology

Origin of fescue

1350–1400; earlier festue, Middle English festu < Middle French < Vulgar Latin *festūcum, for Latin festūca stalk, straw

Example Sentences

Which means I am simultaneously very proud of showing off my lawn, but I also can’t bear watching you grind your dirty claws into my precious fescue.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025

The good news is there are low-water, lushly green native lawn alternatives to tall fescue, the most popular water-guzzling king of turf grasses.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2024

In Canada, a pasture mix of yarrow, white clover and Rocky Mountain fescue experienced less intense and slower-moving fires than those that burned through nearby grasslands.

From Salon • Nov. 1, 2023

Yancey kneels in a pasture already eaten down by the cows and grabs a bunch of fescue, showing how it’s been chewed back.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 18, 2023

My father used to grow oats there, but luckily that last spring he had rotated it to fescue.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien