Jungle
/ˈdʒʌŋ.ɡəl/noun
An area of dense tropical vegetation, especially one that is difficult to travel through.
Did you know?English jungle came through Hindi/Urdu jangal, and in South Asian usage it originally meant uncultivated land or wilderness, not necessarily the dense tropical rainforest image English later gave it.
Etymological Timeline
Sanskrit
Skt.
jaṅgala
“dry, rough, uncultivated land”
Persian/Indic usage
Prakrit/IA
jangal
“wilderness, uncultivated ground”
Hindi/Urdu
Hindustani
jangal
“wild land, forest, wasteland”
18th Century
English
jungle
“wild, uncultivated land; later, dense tropical forest”
Modern English
English
jungle
“dense tropical vegetation or a chaotic, lawless place”