Dictionary

chaparral en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌʃæp.əˈɹæl/ (UK)
• /ˌʃæp.əˈɹɛl/ (US)
• [ˌʃæp.ɚˈ(ɹ)ɛl] (US)
• /ˌt͡ʃæp.əˈɹæl/ (UK)
• /ˌʃæp.əˈɹæl/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• [ˌʃæp.ɚˈ(ɹ)æl] (US)

Etymology

From Spanish chaparral, from chaparro (“evergreen oak”) + -al, from Basque txaparro, from txapar, from sapar.

Meanings

1. (US, countable, uncountable) A region of shrubs, typically dry in the summer and rainy in the winter. The coast of the Mediterranean is such a region.
   • “Look at all the chaparral on California’s coast — it’s all about surviving that kind of fire cycle.” 2021 February 10, Grayson Haver Currin, quoting Chuck Johnson, “Chuck Johnson’s Ode to What’s Been Lost in California’s Fires”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • Have you ever been south of Monterey? / Barrancas carve the coastline / And the chaparral flows to the sea / 'Neath waves of golden sunshine 1973, Al Jardine, “California Saga (California)”, in Holland, performed by The Beach Boys:
   • It was quite dark when, after an arduous climb, the sheriff made his tortuous way through the chaparral to the point where Anthony Garland should be stationed. 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart:
2. (countable, uncountable) The foliage of creosote bush, Larrea divaricata, when used as a medicinal herb.

Forms

Coordinates

macchia

Deriveds

chaparral cock · chaparral yucca · chaparral hen · chaparral bird

Translations (9)

el θαμνότοπος (region of shrubs) · fr maquis (region of shrubs) · eu txapardi (region of shrubs) · el θαμνώνες (region of shrubs) · es chaparral (region of shrubs) · pt chaparral (region of shrubs) · pl chaparral (region of shrubs) · ro chaparral (region of shrubs) · eo ĉaparalo (region of shrubs)