sedge
[ sej ]
/ sɛdʒ /
noun
any rushlike or grasslike plant of the genus Carex, growing in wet places.Compare sedge family.
any plant of the sedge family.
RELATED WORDS
thicket, scrub, shrubbery, undergrowth, grove, cover, coppice, hedge, copse, dingle, underwood, brushwood, fern, gorse, bracken, spinney, chaparral, boscage
Nearby words
- seddon,
- sedecias,
- sedentary,
- seder,
- sederunt,
- sedge family,
- sedge fly,
- sedge warbler,
- sedge wren,
- sedged
Origin of sedge
before 900; Middle English segge, Old English secg; akin to saw1; presumably so named from its sawlike edges
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for sedge
sedge
/ (sɛdʒ) /
noun
any grasslike cyperaceous plant of the genus Carex, typically growing on wet ground and having rhizomes, triangular stems, and minute flowers in spikelets
any other plant of the family Cyperaceae
Word Origin for sedge
Old English secg; related to Middle High German segge sedge, Old English sagu saw 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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sedge
"coarse grass-like plant growing in wet places," Old English secg "sedge, reed, rush," from Proto-Germanic *sagjoz (cf. Low German segge, German Segge), probably from PIE root *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.) and cf. Old English secg, identical in form but meaning "sword;" and cf. German schwertel-gras "sedge" from schwert "sword"), on notion of plant with "cutting" leaves (cf. etymological sense of gladiolus). Old Irish seisg, Welsh hesgreed "rush" might represent a similar sense development from the same root. Often spelled seg, segg until present form triumphed early 1900s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper