palmetto

English

Etymology

From Spanish palmito, diminutive of palma (“palm tree”), from Latin palma. Doublet of palmite and palmito.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

palmetto (plural palmettos or palmettoes)

1. Any of various fan palms of the family Arecaceae, especially Sabal palmetto or the saw palmetto, Serenoa repens. [from 16th c.]
   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     Broad o'er my Head the verdant Cedar wave, / And high Palmetos lift their graceful Shade.

   • 1987, Joan Didion, Miami, Granta, published 2005, page 13:

     [O]n the flat coastal swamps of South Florida, where the palmettos once blew over the detritus of a dozen failed booms and the hotels were boarded up six months a year, there has evolved […] a settlement of considerable interest […] .

2. A hat made of palmetto leaves.
3. A native or resident of the US state of South Carolina.

Coordinate terms

• (South Carolina native or resident): palmetta (feminine)

Derived terms

• Bermuda palmetto (Sabal bermudana)
• Birmingham palmetto (Sabal 'Birmingham')
• bush palmetto (Sabal minor)
• cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto)
• dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor)
• Hispaniola palmetto (Sabal domingensis)
• Mexican palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• palmetto bug (Periplaneta americana)
• palmetto skipper (Euphyes arpa)
• Rio Grande palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• royal palmetto (Sabal pumos)
• saw palmetto (Chamaerops humilis)
• saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)
• scrub palmetto (Sabal etonia)
• Sonoran palmetto (Sabal uresana)
• Texas palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• Yucatán palmetto (Sabal gretheriae)

Translations

any of various fan palms of the family Arecaceae

Spanish: palmito (es) m, margallón m

References

• “palmetto”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• palmetto on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Serenoa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Sabal on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Serenoa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Category:Sabal on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• metaplot, pot metal