What does bush mean?
A bush is a low-growing woody plant, typically smaller than a tree, with several stems emerging from near the base of its trunk. Gardeners prize bushes such as roses and hydrangeas for their structure, while ecologists use the word for the dense scrub vegetation of wild landscapes. Beyond botany, 'bush' has taken on a broader geographic meaning in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where 'the bush' denotes remote, undeveloped countryside — land far from cities, often associated with self-reliance, rugged beauty, and national folklore. In American English, the term survives idiomatically in phrases like 'beating around the bush', meaning to avoid getting to the point, and 'bush league', meaning amateurish or second-rate. Whether describing a garden hedge or a vast stretch of untamed terrain, the word consistently conveys something natural, unmanicured, and slightly wild.
A low woody plant with several stems rising from or near the ground; a shrub. By extension, wild or undeveloped rural land, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa.
"We planted a flowering bush beside the front porch to attract hummingbirds."
The landscape sense takes the definite article: 'in the bush', 'out in the bush'.
(Informal) To spend time camping or living roughly in the wilderness.
"They bushed it for a week in the Kimberleys, sleeping under canvas."
Chiefly Australian; now somewhat dated. Related slang 'bushed' means exhausted.
(Informal) Crude, unsophisticated, or amateurish; characteristic of the countryside rather than refined urban life.
"That was a bush move, forgetting the tickets on the kitchen counter."
Standard regular plural. In the landscape sense, 'bush' is typically used as an uncountable mass noun with the definite article ('the bush'), so it does not usually take a plural in that meaning.
"All the rose bushes along the fence bloomed at once."
When early European settlers reached Australia and South Africa, they didn't call the wilderness a 'wilderness' — they called it 'the bush', and Australians still use that word today for anything remote or rural.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bush
Bush entered Middle English from Old French 'bo(u)iss(o)n' or directly from Germanic sources, ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic root '*busk-', meaning a thicket or wooded place. This same root gave rise to Latin 'boscus' and Old French 'bois' ('wood'), which produced English words like 'ambush', originally referring to soldiers hidden in woods, and 'boulevard', which passed through Dutch fortification terminology before acquiring its modern urban meaning. The Germanic root also survives directly in the rare English word 'bosk', a poetic term for a small wood.
Related word forms
How bush is actually used
In Australian, New Zealand, and South African English, 'the bush' carries strong cultural weight, evoking remote rural landscapes and often national identity; in North American usage, 'bush' mostly appears for individual shrubs. The verb sense 'to bush' (to camp rough) is chiefly Australian and dated.
Easily confused with bush
Busk means to perform music or entertain in public for voluntary donations, whereas bush refers to a shrub or wild country.