prairie

The grassland prairie is a 1761 borrowing from Modern French prairie, meaning “meadow”. You can trace the word backwards through time, maintaining its meaning, through Old French praerie, Vulgar Latin prataria, and Classical Latin prātum. It refers to a specific kind of meadow often found in French Canada and Louisiana. Prairie dog is from 1804, the one survivor from a family of animal names that once included prairie lark, prairie mole, prairie fly, and prairie snake.