French Conversation · Level 134
30 words
French word
souche
Pronunciation
IPA/suʃ/
Meaning
- feminine nounstump
Example
L'enfant s'est assis sur la souche du chêne.
The child sat on the oak stump.
More examples
Après la tempête, on ne voyait plus que la souche.
After the storm, all that could be seen was the stump.
Core concept
A leftover wooden base anchors the visible remains of a tree and suggests the starting source of a family line or biological group.
Common phrases
autour de la souche
around the stump
la souche coupée
the cut stump
Similar words
tronc: The thick main stem of a tree from which branches and leaves grow.
racine: The underground part of a tree or plant that takes in water and nutrients.
Definition in French
Restes du tronc et des racines d'un arbre coupé, visibles au ras du sol; au sens figuré, origine d'une lignée ou d'un type d'organisme.
Word origin
The noun souche was inherited through Old French souche and soche from a likely Vulgar Latin word, reconstructed as *soca, for a stump.
Usage tips
- In biology, souche can mean a strain, as in une souche bactérienne, rather than a physical tree stump.
Other meanings
- lineagenoun
- strainnoun
- originnoun
Related words
- dessoucherremove the stumpverb