leaf litter.

A layer of fallen leaves and partly decaying plant fragments on the ground.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• damp leaf litter
• deep leaf litter
• leaf litter layer

On the page

A beetle crawled beneath the leaf litter.

Their boots disturbed the damp leaf litter around the roots.

By spring, the leaf litter had softened into a dark mat.

Usage notes

Primary category: environment. An established ecological compound; litter here is natural material, not discarded human rubbish. Mass compound noun; no ordinary plural.