lipstick tree
Syllables: lip·stick tree/ˌlɪpstɪk ˈtɹiː/US/ˌlɪpstɪk ˈtɹi/
lipstick tree noun: the shrub Bixa orellana, which is native to Mexico and northern South America; the arils covering its seeds are a source of the orange-red colourant annatto, and the ground seeds are used in traditional Caribbean, Central American, and South American cuisine.
Noun
lipstick tree (plural lipstick trees)
- The shrub Bixa orellana, which is native to Mexico and northern South America; the arils covering its seeds are a source of the orange-red colourant annatto, and the ground seeds are used in traditional Caribbean, Central American, and South American cuisine.
- Bixa Orellana. Lipstick Tree, Annatto. A small tree producing ovate leaves, panicles of pink to rose flowers, and prickly tan capsules which contain seeds covered with a red coating that is the consistency of lipstick and can be used as a coloring agent. (Bixaceae.)1942 March, W. H. Friend, “Trees Other than Palms”, in Plants of Ornamental Value for the Rio Grande Valley of Texas (Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin; no. 609), College Station, Tex....
- Among flowering trees and shrubs of the Kona Coast, kalu, or yellow mimosa, is common, as is the yellow Timor shower, as is the lipstick tree, whose pods give an orange-red substance good not only for lips but—if local claims are true—for margarine.1960, Sydney Clark, All the Best in Hawaii (Sydney Clark Travel Book), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, page 338
Examples of lipstick tree in a sentence
- A narrow road bumps 3 miles through a forest of lipstick trees to one of Hawaii's new pioneer industries.1963, Bob Krauss, “Hawaii”, in Travel Guide to the Hawaiian Islands: Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, New York, N.Y....
- Here grow the tropical lipstick trees – source of color for foods — and the flowering African tulips.1985, Helen A. Wolfe, chapter 2, in Adventure Bound: From Backpacking in New Zealand to Bushwhacking in South Africa, Mount Dora, Fla....
- Crushed and infused in warm water, the roots of the lipstick tree increases male desire.2011, Rosabelle Boswell, “Imbibing Scent and Experiencing Sexuality”, in Re-presenting Heritage in Zanzibar and Madagascar, Addis Ababa...
- Achiote or lipstick trees (Bixa orellana) are tropical trees locally found in American, Caribbean, and East Indian woodlands[…].2020, Jatinder Singh, Harmanpreet Meehnian, Parnika Gupta, Madan L. Verma, “Food Colours: The Potential Sources of Food Adulterants and...
Synonyms of lipstick tree
Forms of lipstick tree
| plural | lipstick trees |
|---|
Origin of lipstick tree
From lipstick + tree, from the resemblance of the open fruit pods of the plant to red lips, or from the fact that the consistency of the arils surrounding its seeds is similar to that of lipstick (see the 1942 quotation).
Words that rhyme with lipstick tree
Questions about lipstick tree
- What does lipstick tree mean?
- Lipstick tree means the shrub Bixa orellana, which is native to Mexico and northern South America; the arils covering its seeds are a source of the orange-red colourant annatto, and the ground seeds are used in traditional Caribbean, Central American, and South American cuisine.
- How do you use lipstick tree in a sentence?
- A narrow road bumps 3 miles through a forest of lipstick trees to one of Hawaii's new pioneer industries.
- What part of speech is lipstick tree?
- Lipstick tree is a noun.
- How do you pronounce lipstick tree?
- Lipstick tree is pronounced /ˌlɪpstɪk ˈtɹiː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lipstick tree?
- The plural of lipstick tree is lipstick trees.
Words near lipstick tree in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lipstick tree (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lipstick tree.wav.
Cite this entry: “lipstick tree.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lipstick_tree. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.