Brazilwood

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A Brazilian timber tree (Paubrasilia echinata, syn. Caesalpinia echinata), used primarily to make bows for string instruments. uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    tropical tree with prickly trunk; its heavy red wood yields a red dye and is used for cabinetry wordnet
  3. 3
    The wood of this tree. uncountable, usually

    "He would take with him red brasilwood from the East Indies – a dye-wood that was so valued that when a few years later the Portuguese found it in the New World, they would name a country after it."

  4. 4
    heavy wood of various brazilwood trees; used for violin bows and as dyewoods wordnet

Example

More examples

"He would take with him red brasilwood from the East Indies – a dye-wood that was so valued that when a few years later the Portuguese found it in the New World, they would name a country after it."

Etymology

From Brazil + wood.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.