Chittim
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A type of wood mentioned in the Bible, from which the Ark of the Covenant was constructed. countable, uncountable
"The knowledge of this fact induced the Deity to command the Israelites to "make no idols nor graven image; neither rear you up a standing image:" but He afterwards made them bring their skill into operation by creating for His worship the ark of the covenant, of chittim wood, and the mercy seat, with cherubims of gold — and appointed to design the work Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, who was skilled to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver, and in brass; and in the cutting of stones to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship."
- 2 A Nigerian currency. countable, uncountable
"Louisa brought four chittims (about a halfpenny)."
- 3 A cascara tree, of species Rhamnus purshiana. countable, uncountable
"Owing to the low price offered for chittims bark the amount peeled in Oregon and Washington this year is limited."
- 4 A yellow cottonwood tree, of species Populus deltoides. countable, uncountable
"The most superficial observer of lumber knows that there is generally a considerable difference between the wood of trees belonging to different species. Sometimes it is quite small, so that lumbermen have no constitutional objection to working off short leaf for long leaf yellow pine, hemlock for white pine, chittim wood, or yellow cottonwood for poplar and red birch for cherry, if it can be done without detection."
- 5 A false buckthorn tree or shrub, of species Bumelia lanuginosa. countable, uncountable
"This family is represented in our range by only one species. chittim-wood, the woody buckthorn (Bumelia launginosa)."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The knowledge of this fact induced the Deity to command the Israelites to "make no idols nor graven image; neither rear you up a standing image:" but He afterwards made them bring their skill into operation by creating for His worship the ark of the covenant, of chittim wood, and the mercy seat, with cherubims of gold — and appointed to design the work Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, who was skilled to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver, and in brass; and in the cutting of stones to set them; and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship."
Etymology
From Hebrew שִׁטִּים, plural of שִׁטָּה, with the spelling change from shittim perhaps chosen to avoid any association with shit.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.