butte
BYOOT
A steep-sided, flat-topped hill smaller and narrower than a mesa — an isolated remnant of resistant rock standing alone in an eroded landscape. A butte is a mesa that has lost most of its surface area to erosion, its cliffs steeper than its top is wide. Monument Valley's iconic silhouettes are buttes. The word implies solitude — a butte stands alone.
Etymology
French, meaning a mound, a small hill, a target. The French-Canadian butte was used by early explorers and trappers in the American West. The pronunciation is anglicized — in French it would be closer to "büt."
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