herbage

Borrowed from Middle French herbage and Old French erbage, from Medieval Latin herbaticum, from Latin herba (“grass”); alternatively, herb +‎ -age.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhəːbɪdʒ/

herbage (usually uncountable, plural herbages)

1. Herbs collectively.
2. Herbaceous plant growth, especially grass.
   • 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘A Descent into the Maelström’:

     I threw myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation.

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 97:

     The dank breath of herbage, sodden with rain, came to her; the mists were barely visible, hovering above the dark ravines.

3. The fleshy, often edible, parts of plants.
4. (law) The natural pasture of a land, considered as distinct from the land itself; hence, right of pasture (on another man's land).

From Old French erbage, from Medieval Latin herbāticum, from Latin herba (“grass”); equivalent to herbe +‎ -age.

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /ɛʁ.baʒ/

herbage m (plural herbages)

1. pasture

• herbe

• “herbage” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).