jungle
/ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/ noun, adjective
Forms jungles jangal
- noun A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest.
- noun (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Asia) Any uncultivated tract of forest or scrub habitat.
- noun (colloquial) A place where people behave ruthlessly, unconstrained by law or morality. “It’s a jungle out there.”
- noun (figurative) A tangled mess.
- noun (slang) An area where hobos camp together.
- noun (music, uncountable) A style of electronic dance music and precursor of drum and bass.
- noun (golf slang) Dense rough.
- noun (slang) A dense mass of pubic hair.
- adjective (Of musical beat, rhythm, etc.) resembling the fast-paced drumming of traditional peoples of the jungle.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi जंगल (jaṅgal) / Urdu جَن٘گَل (jaṅgal)), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀚𑀁𑀕𑀮 (jaṃgala), from Sanskrit जङ्गल (jaṅgala, “arid or sterile region, desert”), from a substrate language. First appears c. 1776 in a translation by Nathaniel Halhed.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil.
Etymology [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “jungle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details