sassafras

Alternative forms

The leaf of Sassafras albidum

• saxefras [17th c.]

Etymology

From Spanish sasafrás, possibly from Latin saxifragus (“stone-breaking”) from the habit of certain plants growing in cracks in boulders.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑːs
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsasəfɹas/

Noun

sassafras (countable and uncountable, plural sassafrases)

1. (countable) A tree of species Sassafras albidum of the eastern United States and Asia having mitten-shaped leaves and red, aromatic heartwood.
2. (countable) A tree of any species in the genus Sassafras.
3. (uncountable) The bark of the root of this plant, used for medicinal and (mostly historically) culinary purposes and formerly a main ingredient in root beer.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 82:

     our allowance was somewhat bettered, by a daily proportion of Bisket, which the sailers would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us, for money, Saxefras, furres, or love.

See also

• Sassafras on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Noun

sassafras

1. sassafras (tree of the genus Sassafras; its bark)