veldt

Everyday

The wide, open grassland of southern Africa, with few trees, where animals like zebras, giraffes and antelope live. tree →

In the lessons

The word comes from Afrikaans and Dutch, meaning «field». In geography, the veld is the South African grassland (high veld and low veld), like the prairie in North America or the steppe in Asia. In the Just So Story «How the Leopard Got His Spots», the Giraffe and Zebra live on «the High Veldt» which is all sandy-yellow, until they move into the stripy, speckly shade of the forest.

Examples

• Zebras and antelope graze on the veldt. tree →
• The Leopard lived on the High Veldt, which was sandy-yellow-brownish. tree →
• Long dry grass covered the veldt as far as we could see. tree →
• The veld is a kind of grassland in South Africa. tree →
• In the dry season, the veldt turns brown. tree →
• The Giraffe and the Zebra left the veldt for the forest. tree →

Note

Two spellings: veldt (old English spelling, used by Kipling) and veld (modern South African). The ending sounds like «felt». Similar words: savanna, prairie, steppe.