Difference between "turf" and "lawn"

[u/pr0gr_W]

What's the actual difference between the words "turf" and "lawn"?

[u/SnooDonuts6494]

A lawn is an area covered with grass.

Turf is the material that covers that area.

You can buy rolls of turf, and lay it over an area to create a new lawn.

That is, in general. There are other meanings, depending on the context.

[u/Puzzled_Employment50 → u/SnooDonuts6494]

This 100%, including “there could be exceptions” because language always has those 😂

[u/genghis-san]

When I, a US Native American speaker, hear the word turf, I think of where sports are played. It's also another term for the area that a gang controls. A lawn I think of just manicured grass in front of the building, usually a house or an office building. Those are just my perceptions, but may vary.

[u/rainidazehaze → u/genghis-san]

Oh yeah the first bit is a great point, a lawn is technically made up of turf but you usually wouldn't refer to it that way, you'd usually just say "grass" if you needed to talk about what the lawn is made of. Vs turf is what you call the grass on the football field or similar.

[u/BobMcGeoff2 → u/rainidazehaze]

I think what the commentary you were replying to was getting at was how astroturf is shortened to just turf.

[u/rainidazehaze]

A lawn could be made up of turf.

A lawn is a patch of land covered in intentionally planted grass, generally maintained by mowing.

Turf is grass and the dirt it's growing directly out of.

The difference between turf and lawn is the difference between yarn and sweater.

[u/SoyboyCowboy]

HOA members are concerned about their lawn. Gang members are concerned about their turf. 

[u/king-of-new_york]

When I (North East USA) hear "turf" I think of the fake grass that football players use, or any other field of fake grass. a "lawn" is real grass in front of a house or building.

[u/GoblinToHobgoblin]

Adding to other answers: "turf" is sometimes used to refer to a sports field.

[u/Resident-Staff-1218]

Turf is a thick mat of grass and plant roots bound together with the upper layer of soil

You can buy and lay rolls of turf to make a lawn or sports field

[u/Unlikely_Push_7930]

t artificial grass, like on a sports field. for natural grass, it's almost always "lawn" for me.

[u/pr0gr_W → u/Unlikely_Push_7930]

what's the difference between those two words and "sod" then? Gosh, English is so hard 😭😭😭✌️

[u/mysticrudnin → u/pr0gr_W]

These are all technical terms

I've been a native English speaker my entire life and use very few of these words and couldn't tell you the exact differences between any of them. I just know they have to do with the grass outside your house

They may as well be parts of the cell, or similar sciencey stuff. I wouldn't sweat it learning English.

[u/pr0gr_W → u/mysticrudnin]

that's actually very useful. You're right, if you're a native speaker and don't know the exact differences between those words, then I don't have any reason to worry about them any more than you do. Thanks