tule

American  

[too-lee, too-le] / ˈtu li, ˈtu lɛ /

noun

• tules
  plural

1. either of two large bulrushes, Scirpus lacustris or S. acutus, found in California and adjacent regions in inundated lands and marshes.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tules
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tule

1830–40, < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl tōlin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tule tules

The iconic tule elk, some of which were fenced in on the northern part of the peninsula to keep them from competing for grassland with cows, were dying off.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

And in its forests and on its grasslands, tule elk and mule deer graze, while bobcats and coyotes hunt for rabbits and mountain beavers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

But tule fog is proving beneficial for farms themselves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

This tule fog upended that trend, thanks to the exceptional fall weather conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

We landed on an island of tule which was flooded when the tide rose and had to take refuge in a bramble patch to protect ourselves against the water until it went down.

From Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820 Anthropological Records 16(6):239-292, 1958 by Sherburne Friend Cook

“Let’s put some water back where it belongs. Let’s let the tules grow. Let’s let some habitat come back.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025

“This looks like the Mojave Desert, and it used to be tules and elk,” Ennis said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025

The lake and its extensive wetlands once teemed with fish, birds, beavers and frogs, and the people who lived on its shores built rafts out of tules and fished with basket traps.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

“We have one area in the entire state of California that we know we can still be farming 150 years from now,” he says, “and they want to plant tules there.”

From Scientific American ● Jun. 7, 2022

The tules and grasses grew back, and willows straightened up with the flood debris in their upper branches.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck