Rounded, raised hills of earth or dirt, usually made by humans or accumulated gradually; or the pile of dirt that a pitcher stands on in baseball.
From Middle Dutch 'mond' (protection, hedge) or Old French 'monde'. Some scholars connect it to Old Norse 'múndr' (chief). The word entered Middle English and became applied to artificial heaps of earth, particularly those created by Native Americans (mound builders).
Ancient Native American mound builders created massive earthen structures—some as large as Egyptian pyramids!—yet European settlers didn't recognize them as human-made and thought they were natural features. Archaeologists now study these mounds to understand pre-Columbian civilizations.
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