bush

The word “bush” means a woody plant with multiple stems, smaller than a tree. In plain terms, a small woody plant, or (especially in Australian and African English) wild, undeveloped countryside.

“Bush” is pronounced BUUSH (/ˈbʊʃ/ in IPA).

Here is “bush” used in a sentence: “She planted a rose bush by the front gate.”

Depending on how it is used, “bush” can be a noun and an adjective.

The word “bush” comes from Old English. From Old English "busc"/"bysc," tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root for "bush" or "thicket," itself related to a word meaning "to grow.".

“Bush” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Bush” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a woody plant with multiple stems, smaller than a tree.

The two words describe the same kind of plant, woody, with several stems and shorter than a tree, and are often interchangeable. "Shrub" is the more botanical, formal term, while "bush" is the everyday word and can also suggest a wilder or denser growth. Gardeners use both freely.

A tree usually has a single woody trunk and grows tall, while a bush has several stems rising from near the ground and stays lower and broader. The line can blur, since some plants grow either way, but height and a single trunk are the usual markers of a tree.

Familiar garden bushes include roses, hydrangeas, azaleas, boxwood, holly, lavender, and forsythia. Berry plants such as blackcurrant and gooseberry are bushes too. Many are grown for flowers, foliage, or fruit, and several are clipped into hedges around gardens and paths.

In Australia and New Zealand, "the bush" refers to wild, uncultivated countryside, natural land away from towns and cities, often covered in native trees and scrub. To "go bush" means to head out into this wilderness, and "the outback" describes its most remote, arid stretches.