Etymology

badlands

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Today it means: An arid terrain characterized by severe erosion of sedimentary rocks. Full definition →

Canadian French mauvaises terres à traverser ← Lakota Makȟóšiča
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The story

  1. Lakota · derived fromMakȟóšiča
  2. Canadian French · calque ofmauvaises terres à traverser“bad lands to cross”
  3. English todaybadlands

From earlier Bad Lands, calque of Canadian French mauvaises terres à traverser (“bad lands to cross”), itself a calque of Lakota Makȟóšiča (from makȟá (“land”) + o- (attributive prefix) + šíča (“bad”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.