copse

KOPS

A small stand of trees — too small to be a forest, too dense to be a scattering. A copse has edges you can see from inside it. Historically, a copse was a managed woodland, cut and regrown in rotation for fuel and building material.

Etymology

Middle English cops, from Old French coupeiz (a cut-over wood), from couper (to cut). A copse is, etymologically, a wood that has been cut — and has grown back.

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