the.com/trekking pole

means A trekking pole is a lightweight, often adjustable staff—usually used in pairs—that hikers plant with each step to steady themselves, ease strain on the knees, and power up and down rough terrain.

from A plain compound of two parts. "Pole" comes from Old English 'pal' (a stake or post), itself borrowed from Latin 'palus.' "Trek" is the more colorful half: it entered English in the 19th century from Afrikaans 'trek,' meaning a long, arduous journey by ox-wagon—the same word that gave the Boers' Great Trek its name. So the term literally describes a pole for the long haul, its modern collapsible, shock-absorbing form arriving with the rise of recreational hiking and mountaineering gear in the 20th century.