baobab means A tree, Adansonia digitata, native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.
baobab is pronounced /ˈbeɪə(ʊ)bab/.
Why “baobab” is a great word
A massive, thick-trunked tree of the African savanna, known for its stark, root-like silhouette and large, nutrient-rich fruit. From Medieval Latin bahobab (1590s), from Arabic أَبُو حِبَاب (ʾabū ḥibāb, 'father of many seeds'), from أَبُو (ʾabū, 'father') + حَبّ (ḥabb, 'seed'); first attested in English in the 1630s. Unlike the towering, fiber-bearing kapok or the dense-timbered, acorn-bearing oak, the baobab is a columnar reservoir, a creature of thirst and endurance. It is the elephant of the plant kingdom, its bark like ancient hide, its hollows storing monsoon water, and its fruit a chalky, vitamin-crammed pulp that tastes of dust and survival—a monument not to might, but to mere persistence against a draining sky.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin bahobab, from Arabic أَبُو حِبَاب (ʔabū ḥibāb, “father of many seeds”), from أَبُو (ʔabū, “father”) + حَبّ (ḥabb, “seed”).
noun
- A tree, Adansonia digitata, native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.
- Any tree of the genus Adansonia.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- adansonia 72% match — Any member of the tree genus Adansonia, the baobabs. vs baobab →
- boab 71% match — The tree Adansonia gregorii, a baobab species endemic to the Kimberley region and the Northern Territory of Australia. vs baobab →
- babul 61% match — A tree native to South Asia, Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica, formerly Acacia nilotica subsp. indica. vs baobab →
- ciboa 61% match — A type of palm tree with large fronds, Borassus aethiopicum, growing in West Africa. vs baobab →
- moabi 58% match — A tree of species Baillonella toxisperma, found throughout subtropical forests of Africa, used for its oil. vs baobab →
- doum 58% match — The doum palm. vs baobab →
- ackee 57% match — A tropical evergreen tree, Blighia sapida, related to the lychee and longan. vs baobab →
- blackbead 57% match — A tree or shrub of the genus Pithecellobium, native to the Americas. vs baobab →