French word

essart

Pronunciation

IPA/ɛsaʁ/

Meaning

  • masculine nouncleared land

Example

Le fermier a planté des arbres sur l'essart.

The farmer planted trees on the cleared land.

Illustration for essart (cleared land)

More examples

Le propriétaire a transformé son essart en potager.

The owner transformed his clearing into a vegetable garden.

Core concept

A field or pasture occupying ground opened by removing trees and undergrowth.

Similar words

terrain: A defined plot of land suitable for building or farming.
champ: A broad cultivated area used for growing crops.
pré: Grassland used for grazing livestock or cutting hay.
clairière: An open area with few trees within a forest.

Definition in French

Terre provenant du défrichement d'un bois ou d'un taillis, destinée à la culture ou au pâturage.

Word origin

French inherited essart from the Old French noun essart, formed with essarter, which ultimately comes from Latin exsartare.

Usage tips

  • Essart is a rare, formal word; terrain défriché or terre défrichée is more usual in modern descriptive French.

Other meanings

  • clearingnoun

Opposites

Word lists with this word