Standard Lemma guide

rockery

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈɹɒk.ə.ɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈɹɑk.ɚ.i/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A section of a garden made from decorative rocks and alpine plants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rock garden

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: karesansui, Zen garden

2

noun

Meaning 2

A natural area where many seals breed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a garden featuring rocks; usually alpine plants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rock garden

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: garden

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Medieval Latin roccabor.? Old English *rocc Early Medieval Latin rocca Anglo-Norman roquebor. Middle English rokke English rock Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Latin -ia Old French -ie Old French -eriebor. Middle English -erie English -ery English rockery From rock + -ery.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: альпі́йская го́рка (alʹpíjskaja hórka) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Bulgarian: алпинеум (alpineum) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Chinese Mandarin: 假山 (jiǎshān) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Czech: skalka — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Dutch: rotstuin — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Finnish: kivipuutarha — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • French: rocaille — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • German: Steingarten — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Icelandic: steinbeð — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Irish: creig-ghairdín — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Irish: carragán — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Japanese: ロック ガーデン (rokku gāden) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Japanese: 石庭 (sekitei) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Norwegian Bokmål: steinbed — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fjellhage — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: steinbed — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fjellhage — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Plautdietsch: Steengoaden — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Polish: skalniak — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Russian: альпи́йская го́рка (alʹpíjskaja górka) — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Spanish: jardín de rocas — section of a garden made from decorative rocks
  • Spanish: rocalla — section of a garden made from decorative rocks