Monday word: llano

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

llano (lä′nō, yä′-), noun
An extensive, grassy, treeless or nearly-treeless plain.

Synonymous with prairie, as far as I can tell...except that each tends to be used only for certain regions.
'Llano' is mostly used in reference to areas in South America or southwestern United States;
'prairie' tends to refer to an area in central North America or the MIssissippi valley.

Los Llanos is a plain in northwestern South America.
Llano Estacado is a plain in the southwestern United States.









Etymology:  1600s, from Spanish llano, plain, level, even.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

A llano is flatter and drier than a prairie, and even more treeless (as in, even the few arroyos rarely have anything larger than scrub). Compare also steppe.

Crossing the Llano Estacado is an interesting experience. I can only imagine what it would have been like on horseback.

---L.

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

That makes sense - thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I used to live in California, and would vacation or drive across the Southwest; the flat areas there have a very different quality than the flat areas in the relatively moist Midwest.