dzud

• zud

Borrowed from Mongolian зуд (zud)/ᠵᠤᠳ (ǰud).

• IPA^(key): /(d)zuːd/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -uːd

dzud (plural dzuds)

1. An ecological crisis in the steppe-land of Mongolia and Central Asia causing loss of livestock, typically a summer drought followed by a severe winter.
   • 2010 April 7, Linda Pressly, “Mongolia on verge of mineral boom”, in BBC News‎, archived from the original on 29 April 2015:

     But the country [Mongolia] is currently experiencing a "dzud" – when a summer drought followed by a severe winter decimates the grazing areas.

   • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 3:

     Because migration distances are increasingly limited, people are increasingly vulnerable to various kinds of harsh winter or zud […] that can devastate herd populations and herder livelihoods.