rucksack
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of rucksack
1890–95; < German: literally, back sack
Explanation
A rucksack is another name for a backpack or knapsack. On the first day of school, you might load up your rucksack with new notebooks and sharp pencils. Depending on where you live (and possibly, how old you are), you might call a rucksack a bookbag, a sackpack, or a kitpack. However you say it, it's a bag with shoulder straps that's designed to be carried on your back. Rucksack is originally a German word, from the Alpine-German dialect word Rück, "the back," and Sack, "large bag."
Vocabulary lists containing rucksack
A Monster Calls
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Between Shades of Gray
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"When I met him I realised he did not have any suitcases, he only had a rucksack," Pochynok said.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
One of the important things she has trained Captain Crumpet and Chikondi in is what to do if they feel threatened and she carries a rucksack as a mobile safe space.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
"It was indescribably nice, as if you've been hiking for a weekend with a massive rucksack - then you take the rucksack off and you feel you can float."
From BBC • Dec. 27, 2025
Daniel Anjorin walked out of the front door of his family home in Hainault at about 07:00 BST, rucksack on his back and headphones on as he headed to school.
From BBC • Jun. 25, 2025
Many nights, he handed his rucksack to somebody and spoke the same words.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
