TUNDRA

noun Etymology: Russian, from Russian dialect (northeast) ~, tundara, from Kildin Sami (Sami language of the northern Kola Peninsula) tūnter Date: circa 1841 a level or rolling treeless plain that is characteristic of arctic and subarctic regions, consists of black mucky soil with a permanently frozen subsoil, and has a dominant vegetation of mosses, lichens, herbs, and dwarf shrubs