noun, feminine/suʃ/plural: souches
stump (of a tree); strain; root; origin; founder
“une souche virale inédite a fait au minimum vingt morts” — an unknown viral strain has caused at least twenty deaths
Inherited from Middle French souche, from Old French çoche, from Vulgar Latin *tsucca, from Gaulish *tsukka, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“stock; stump”). Cognate with Catalan and Spanish soca, Sicilian zuccu. More at English stock.