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Veld (also spelled veldt) comes from Afrikaans, the language of the Afrikaners, the descendants of the Dutch and Huguenot people who settled in southern Africa in the 17th century. Literally, veld means "field," and is akin to feld, the Old English predecessor of field. English speakers adopted the Africa-specific sense of veld in the 18th century. Veld refers to open country in southern Africa. Different regions of the veld are distinguished by their elevations. There is the Highveld, the Lowveld, and the Middle Veld, each with different geographical characteristics. Another term associated with veld is kopje (or koppie). This word came to English from Afrikaans (and ultimately from a Dutch word meaning "small head" or "cup") and refers to a small hill, particularly one on the African veld.
Examples of veld in a Sentence
Caitlin Morton, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Oct. 2023
Working with local landscape architect Dawid Klopper, the couple removed most of the non-native foliage and replaced it with indigenous plants more typical of South Africa’s veld, or grassland, like aloes and red grass.
—Ingrid Abramovitch, ELLE Decor, 5 Jan. 2021
There is still plenty of grassland here, or veld, as South Africans call it.
—David McKenzie, CNN, 6 Mar. 2020
Early in the play, Piet says of the plants:
That veld is a hard world.
—Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 29 May 2018
These velds are where the last several Rift epidemics in South Africa began.
—Lois Parshley, Scientific American, 1 May 2018
Only 20 feet separated my truck from the king of the veld.
—charlotteobserver, 27 Oct. 2017
The giraffe now appeared to be part of a surreal painting, running across a purplish veld beneath a red sky.
—Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Veld.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veld. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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