hummock

hammock - n. 圆丘；山岗；小丘；冰丘

　　noun

　　1: a rounded knoll or hillock

　　2: a ridge of ice

　　3: HAMMOCK entry 2 sense 2

　　hummock -verb

　　hummocky -adjective

　　Where did hummock come from?

　　Having trouble telling a hummock from a hammock from a hillock? Not to worry: all three words refer to a small hill or earthen mound. Hummock, in fact, is an alteration of hammock; this 16th century pair share an ancestor with the Middle Low German words hummel (“small height”) and hump (“bump”), the latter of which is also a distant relative of our English word hump. As for the 14th-century vintage hillock, a version of the suffix -ock has been attached to nouns to designate a small one of whatever since the days of Old English. Note that the hilly hammock mentioned here is not related to the hammock offering a swaying repose between supports. That hammock comes from the Spanish hamaca, and ultimately from Taino, a language spoken by the original inhabitants of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.

　　Example Sentences

　　1 There, in a tangle of roots, dead wood and grass on a hummock about the size of a pitcher's mound, coiled a 2-foot-long snake. -Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2022

　　2 Its hummock was part of a wetland spiked with tamarack saplings and carpeted with wild cranberries. -Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2022

　　3 Like a swarm of rattlesnakes trying to escape their den, the first rat launches itself off the hummock toward the safety of the Roseau cane, revealing five or six others beneath. -Gerry Bethge, Outdoor Life, 21 Apr. 2020