Sedge Meaning
/sɛd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny plant of the family Cyperaceae.
nounAny plant of the family Cyperaceae., Any plant of the genus Carex, the true sedges; perennial herbs with triangular jointless stems, a spiked inflorescence, and long grass-like leaves which are usually rough on the margins and midrib.
Sentence Examples
The sedge has withered from the lake, and no birds sing.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The swamp was covered with ____, a grass-like plant that grows in wet soil.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The wetland was fringed with tall ____ grass that provided habitat for nesting birds.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *sagjaz Proto-West Germanic *sagi Old English seċġ Middle English segge English sedge From Middle English segge, from Old English seċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sagi, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sak- (“marsh plant”). Cognate with Dutch zegge and German Segge, dialectal German Saher (“reeds”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon."
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The swamp was covered with ____, a grass-like plant that grows in wet soil.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The wetland was fringed with tall ____ grass that provided habitat for nesting birds.