Peat

Peat

Noun · /piːt/

Definition

A dark brown, spongy organic material formed by the partial decomposition of plant matter (especially mosses, sedges, and heathers) in waterlogged, acidic conditions over thousands of years; cut and dried for use as a fuel or as a soil conditioner in horticulture. Peat bogs being the ecosystems in which peat forms.

Origin

From Middle English pete, of uncertain further origin — possibly from a Brythonic Celtic source, as the word appears in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales where Celtic languages were spoken. Appearing in English from the fourteenth century. Peat forming over millennia in boggy, waterlogged, acidic environments where dead plant material accumulates faster than it decomposes, creating layers of compressed organic matter that can be metres deep.