Etymology

taiga

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Today it means: A subarctic zone of evergreen coniferous forests situated south of the tundras and north of the steppes in the Northern Hemisphere. Full definition →

Russian тайга́ ← Yakut тайга
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The story

  1. Yakut · derived fromтайга“untraversable forest”
  2. Russian · borrowed fromтайга́
  3. English todaytaiga

From Russian тайга́ (tajgá), from South Siberian Turkic (Altai region, for example the Altay or Shor language, cf Khakas: тағ (tağ)), or alternatively Yakut тайга (tayga, “untraversable forest”). Doublet of Tayga.

Words from the same roots

Russianтайга́ all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.