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.
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
After being stopped in the international arrivals area, Lyons - who was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and carrying a rucksack - was handed over to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Area Resort Police.
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
"I put it in my rucksack and put it on translate when I got home."
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
One of the rescuers told the court she had her rucksack on and her head was tilted back.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
Asta flew off his shoulder and began to search for a stone of the right size, while he took the rucksack out of the canoe.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
