rucksack
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
Near the body were personal items - a rucksack, coins, including one dated 1977, fragments of a Sun newspaper from 1978.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Detectives are appealing for witnesses who may have seen Mr Rafael, who is described as a Black British national, and is believed to have been wearing an all-grey tracksuit, black hat, trainers and rucksack.
From BBC • Nov. 10, 2025
On the night she died, she had packed her belongings into a suitcase and rucksack, suggesting she was preparing to leave, the court was told.
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2025
Ben closes it like it’s an important thing and he wraps it inside a plastic bag to protect it and puts it in the rucksack.
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
