Karoo

or Kar·roo

[ kuh-roo ]

noun

, plural ka·roos

1. a vast plateau in the Republic of South Africa, in Cape of Good Hope province. 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers); 3000–4000 feet (900–1200 meters) above sea level.
2. (lowercase) an arid South African tableland with red clay soil.

Karoo

/ kəˈruː /

noun

1. any of several high arid plateaus in South Africa, esp the Central Karoo and the Little Karoo. The highveld, north of the Central Karoo, is sometimes called the Northern Karoo
2. a period or rock system in Southern Africa equivalent to the period or system extending from the Upper Carboniferous to the Lower Jurassic: divided into Lower and Upper Karoo

adjective

1. of, denoting, or formed in the Karoo period

karoo

/ kə-ro̅o̅′ /

1. A semiarid plateau. The most well-known karoos cover nearly 400,000 sq km (156,000 sq mi) of southern Africa. Karoos are terrace shaped and characterized by low scrub vegetation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Karoo¹

First recorded in 1785–90; from Afrikaans kar(r)oo, from Khoikhoi; compare Xhaeruh, Phaeruh placename recorded in 1689, Nama garo “parched, dry, arid,” !garo-b “desolate waste”

Word History and Origins

Origin of Karoo¹

C18: from Afrikaans karo, probably from Khoikhoi garo desert

Example Sentences

Drawing parallels across Karoo sites, the study links the Maniamba Basin's organic matter properties with those found in other Karoo sites stretching from Mozambique to Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa.

From Science Daily

So Michael builds a handcart for her to travel in - and they set off from Cape Town through the Karoo semi-desert.

From BBC

"Partly so that we could see these beautiful puppets that Adrian carved up on a big screen, and partly so that we would understand the landscape of this journey and the beautiful loneliness of the Karoo in South Africa," Foot says.

From BBC

But it wasn’t until the current team re-examined 77 gorgonopsians fossils from the Karoo that they realized this was a new species.

From New York Times

The team discovered that various species of gorgonopsian occupied the top predator niche in what is now Karoo Basin in South Africa throughout the approximately million years of Permian extinction.

From New York Times