Etymology:
< Hindi and Marathi jangal desert, waste, forest, Sanskrit jaṇgala dry, dry ground, desert.
The change in Anglo-Indian use may be compared to that in the historical meaning of the word forest in its passage from a waste or unenclosed tract to one covered with wild wood. In the transferred sense of jungle there is apparently a tendency to associate it with tangle.
1.
In India, originally, as a native word, Waste or uncultivated ground
(= ‘forest’ in the original sense); then, such land overgrown with
brushwood, long grass, etc.; hence, in Anglo-Indian use:
a.
Land overgrown with underwood, long grass, or tangled vegetation;
also, the luxuriant and often almost impenetrable growth of vegetation
covering such a tract.
b. with a and pl. A particular tract or piece of land so covered; esp. as the dwelling-place of wild beasts.
c. Extended to similar tracts in other lands, especially tropical.
2.transf. and fig.
a.
A wild, tangled mass. Also, a place of bewildering complexity or
confusion; a place where the ‘law of the jungle’ prevails; a scene of
ruthless competition, struggle, or exploitation; esp. with
qualification, as blackboard junglein schools, asphalt jungle, concrete jungle in cities.
