noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A fibrous material used for tying plants, originating from the leaves of raffia palm trees (genus Raphia). countable, uncountable

   "He was pressed against the canes and raffia of which this old house was built."

2. 2
   fiber of a raffia palm used as light cordage and in making hats and baskets wordnet
3. 3
   leaf fibers of the raffia palm tree; used to make baskets and mats etc. wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

cottonfibergenus raffiagenus raphianylonraphia

Example

More examples

"He was pressed against the canes and raffia of which this old house was built."

Etymology

From Malagasy rafia or rofia.

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