turf

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turf

/tɝf/ US
/tɜːf/ Australia, UK
/tʌɾf/ Scotland
/tøːf/ New Zealand, Wales
/teːf/
/tɛːf/

Sounds like TERF (fern–fir–fur merger) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)f

Where it comes from

From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf (“turf, sod, soil, piece of grass-covered earth, greensward”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb (“turf, peat”), from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots turr, truff (“turf, peat”), Dutch turf (“turf”), Middle Low German torf (“peat, turf”) (whence German Torf and German Low German Torf), Danish tørv (“peat”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish torv (“turf”), Norn *torv (“peat”), French tourbe (“peat”), Finnish turve (“turf”), Lithuanian darbas (“bunch of leaves”), durpės (“peat”), Sanskrit दर्भ (darbhá, “a type of grass”), दूर्वा (dū́rvā, “bent grass”).

Not cognate with Danish torv (“square, market, marketplace”), which is instead inherited from Old Norse torg (“marketplace”), from Old East Slavic търгъ (tŭrgŭ, “trade, trading, commerce, trade square”), ultimately from Proto-Slavic *tъ̑rgъ (“merchandise, commodity, wares”).

noun turfs · turves

uncountable A layer of earth covered with grass; sod. Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said.
countable A piece of such a layer cut from the soil. May be used as sod to make a lawn, dried for peat, stacked to form earthen structures, etc. "It's an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren't lawfully seised of your land - it didn't really belong to you - till the other fellow had actually given you a piece of it - like this." He held out the turve
countable A block of peat used as fuel. In ordinary peat-bogs, however, where turves are cut, there is always a large percentage of waste peat resulting from the digging, drying or transport of the turves, which can be utilized only by moulding it.
countable, uncountable A thick, carpet-like bed of algae. The turf layer is made up of filamentous and thallose red algae.
specifically, uncountable A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf. In climates where grass struggles to grow, turf is usually used instead on sports fields.
slang, uncountable A territory claimed by a gang as their own.
broadly, uncountable A person's domain or sphere of influence.
uncountable, with definite article A racetrack, hippodrome.
uncountable, with definite article The sport of racing horses.

verb turfs · turfing · turfed

To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
To fire from a job or dismiss from a task. Eight managers were turfed after the merger of the two companies.
To cancel a project or product. The company turfed the concept car because the prototype performed poorly.
informal, transitive To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out. He has the mistaken idea that he is a lap dog, and loves to be nursed, especially by ladies, but eighty-five pounds on your lap is no joke, and he can never understand why he gets turfed off.
transitive To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for. "Sure thing, I buffed her, and they turfed her to urology, but she bounced back to me!" […] They want to transfer responsibility for her to another branch of the hospital (turf her).

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sod, sward, greensward, grassland, lawn, field, peat, pasture, pitch, mousse, herb, podzol, moss, foam, terrain, grass

Translations

Every language

noun a layer of earth covered with grass; sod

Español	césped, terreno, territorio
Português	gramado
Français	gazon
Deutsch	Rasen
Italiano	erba, zolla erbosa
Ελληνικά	χλόη chlói, γρασίδι grasídi
Русский	дёрн djorn

noun a piece of such a layer cut from the soil and used to make a lawn

Español	tepe, gallón, champa, césped
Português	torrão
Français	une motte f de gazon
Deutsch	Grassode
Italiano	zolla d'erba
Ελληνικά	χλοοτάπητας chlootápitas
Русский	дёрн djorn

noun a piece of peat used as fuel

Español	turba
Português	turfa
Italiano	torba

noun (slang) the territory claimed by a person, gang, etc. as their own

Português	quebrada
Ελληνικά	έδαφος édafos
Tiếng Việt	địa bàn

noun a racetrack

Español	turf
Português	turfe, hipódromo
Français	hippodrome, champ de courses
Ελληνικά	ιπποδρόμιο ippodrómio

noun the sport of horse racing

Español	turf

verb to create a lawn by laying turfs

Español	encespedar
Português	relvar
Français	gazonner
Italiano	piotare, zollare

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Cite this

MLA

"turf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/turf. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

turf. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/turf

Chicago

"turf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/turf.

BibTeX

@misc{turf_2026,
  title = {turf},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/turf},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}