taiga

[ tahy-guh, tahy-gah ]

noun
  1. the coniferous evergreen forests of subarctic lands, covering vast areas of northern North America and Eurasia.

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Origin of taiga

1
First recorded in 1885–90; from Russian taĭgá, from one or more Turkic languages of the Altai Mountain region; compare Altai, Shor tayγa “forest-covered mountain”

Words Nearby taiga

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use taiga in a sentence

  • The country is rocky and mountainous, and the taiga spreads over it in all directions for hundreds and thousands of versts.

  • Then came the formation called the taiga, a sort of Arctic moorland, which becomes swampy and dangerous in summer.

British Dictionary definitions for taiga

taiga

/ (ˈtaɪɡə) /


noun
  1. the coniferous forests extending across much of subarctic North America and Eurasia, bordered by tundra to the north and steppe to the south

Origin of taiga

1
from Russian, of Turkic origin; compare Turkish daǧ mountain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for taiga

taiga

[ ]


  1. A forest located in the Earth's far northern regions, consisting mainly of cone-bearing evergreens, such as firs, pines, and spruces, and some deciduous trees, such as larches, birches, and aspens. The taiga is found just south of the tundra.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.