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

Then, for years, tule fog seemed to form less often.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

Tulchuherris held to the spear with one hand, grasped tule grass with the other, used all his strength.

From Creation Myths of Primitive America In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind by Jeremiah Curtin

“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

The Central Valley historically had about 4 million acres of wetlands and riparian areas, forming a vast watery mosaic of marshes, vernal pools, rivers in braided channels and lakes fringed with tules and forests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024

In a ring of impenetrable reeds, called tules, was Tulare Lake — then the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 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

Behind the school a high board fence separated girlside from boyside, and the back of the play yard was bounded by a slough of standing water in which tall tules and even cattails grew.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck