A butte is a steep, flat-topped hill that rises sharply above the land around it, usually found in dry, desert areas. It is smaller than a mesa.
From French 'butte' meaning 'mound' or 'small hill.' French explorers and settlers in North America used the word to describe the isolated flat-topped hills they saw in the West. The term stuck in English geography and geology.
That strange-looking word is actually French, which is why it's pronounced 'byoot' instead of 'but.' Buttes are like nature’s skyscrapers, leftover rock towers after wind and water have worn everything else away. Famous landmarks like Monument Valley are full of spectacular buttes.
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