Manita

//məˈniːtə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The tree Chiranthodendron pentadactylon, or the red, hand-like flower this tree produces. rare

    "[…] The manita tree,* so named from the singular formation of its flower, a drawing of which is placed as the frontispiece of this book, is a species of plant almost unknown in the catalogues of botanists. Manita means a little hand."

Example

More examples

"[…] The manita tree,* so named from the singular formation of its flower, a drawing of which is placed as the frontispiece of this book, is a species of plant almost unknown in the catalogues of botanists. Manita means a little hand."

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish manita (“little hand”), feminine-form diminutive of mano (“hand”), because the small red flowers of the tree resemble five-fingered human hands.

Related phrases

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