fustic
US/ˈfʌstɪk/
fustic noun: a tropical American tree (Maclura tinctoria), whose wood produces a yellow dye.
Noun
fustic (usually uncountable, plural fustics)
- A tropical American tree (Maclura tinctoria), whose wood produces a yellow dye.
- […]nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same colour and smell.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- old fustic, fustoc, young fustic, fustet, Venice sumac, Eurasian smoke tree
- A Eurasian smoketree (Cotinus coggygria), whose wood produces an orange dye.
- Wood of these trees.
- Fustic will also dye a yellow with alum for a mordaunt, either on woolen or silk, but it makes a poor color in comparison with the Quercitron, (American yellow oak bark.)1847, editorial staff, “To Dye Yellow Color”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 72
- A yellow dye obtained from the wood of these trees.
Synonyms of fustic
- old fustic
- fustoc
- young fustic
- fustet
- Venice sumac
- Eurasian smoke tree
Forms of fustic
| plural | fustics |
|---|---|
| alternative form | fustet |
| alternative form | fustoc |
| alternative form | fustick |
Origin of fustic
From Middle English fustik, from Middle French fustec, variant of fustet.
Words formed from fustic
Phrases with fustic
Words that rhyme with fustic
Questions about fustic
- What does fustic mean?
- Fustic means a tropical American tree (Maclura tinctoria), whose wood produces a yellow dye.
- What part of speech is fustic?
- Fustic is a noun.
- How do you pronounce fustic?
- Fustic is pronounced /ˈfʌstɪk/ (US).
- What is the plural of fustic?
- The plural of fustic is fustics.
Words near fustic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fustic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fustic.wav.
Cite this entry: “fustic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fustic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.