rocheuse

Rocheuse is the feminine form of the French adjective rocheux, meaning rocky or stony. It describes things that are composed largely of rock or that have exposed rock surfaces and little soil. The masculine counterpart is rocheux, and the feminine plural is rocheuses.

In usage, rocheuse agrees with feminine nouns. Examples include une falaise rocheuse (a rocky cliff), une montagne rocheuse (a rocky mountain), or une zone rocheuse (a rocky area). The corresponding masculine phrases include un sol rocheux (a rocky soil) and un terrain rocheux (a rocky terrain). In plural form, one speaks of des falaises rocheuses or des terrains rocheux, depending on the noun.

The term is common in geography, geology and land-use descriptions, and it often conveys rough, uneven relief, bedrock exposure, or scant vegetation. It is frequently used in descriptive notes on landscapes in alpine, coastal or arid environments where rock dominates the surface.

Etymologically, rocheuse derives from roche, meaning rock, with the productive suffix -euse that forms feminine adjectives in French. The word is primarily used in French-language texts; in English, the closest translations are rocky or stony, or phrases like rocky landscape, rocky coast, and so on.

Rocheuse may appear in toponymy or descriptive labels within maps and guides, particularly when distinguishing rocky features from smoother terrains. It is generally not used as a standalone noun, but as an adjective modifying a feminine noun.