araucaria

noun

ar·​au·​car·​ia ˌa-ˌrȯ-ˈka-rē-ə How to pronounce araucaria (audio)
ˌer-ȯ-
: any of a genus (Araucaria of the family Araucariaceae, the araucaria family) of South American or Australian coniferous trees that resemble pines and are often grown as ornamentals
especially : monkey puzzle
araucarian adjective

Examples of araucaria in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The park, an oasis of trees like tipa and araucarias, sprawling lawns, and a lake filled with koi — the enormous fish that also fill the waterways of Jardín Japones in Palermo — is teeming with locals reading, painting or working out on Saturdays. Maria Cramer, New York Times, 18 May 2023 There's a spot about four miles into the Los Lagos Trail, in Chile's Huerquehue National Park, where venerable araucaria trees preside over a primordial rain forest. Mark Johanson, Travel + Leisure, 27 Nov. 2021 In La Araucanía, home to the Mapuche, Chile’s largest Indigenous group, deep forests are covered by century-old araucaria trees. Charis McGowan, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 May 2021

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, from Araucānus araucanian (borrowed from Spanish araucano) + -āria -ary entry 1

Note: Genus name introduced by the French botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita (Paris, 1789), pp. 413-14. Jussieu adapted the name from Juan Ignacio Molinaʼs Saggio sulla storia naturale del Chili (Bologna, 1782): "Il Pehuen, Pinus Araucana … nasce spontaneamente presso gli Araucani, e si coltiva nelle altre parti del Regno" ("The Pehuen, Pinus Araucana … grows naturally near the Araucanians, and is cultivated in the other parts of the country") (p. 182).

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of araucaria was in 1806

Dictionary Entries Near araucaria

Cite this Entry

“Araucaria.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/araucaria. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on araucaria

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!