sassafras

• saxefras [17th c.]

From Spanish sasafrás, possibly from Latin saxifragus (“stone-breaking”) from the habit of certain plants growing in cracks in boulders. If this etymology is correct, it is a doublet of saxifrage.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

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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.

   Synonyms: red sassafras, silky sassafras, white sassafras

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.

   Synonym: cinnamonwood

   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 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.

• (botanical ingredients of root beer): sarsaparilla

• sassafras on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Sassafras on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Sassafras on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

From taxonomic name Sassafras.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɑsːɑfrɑs/, [ˈs̠ɑ̝s̠ːɑ̝frɑ̝s̠]
• Rhymes: -ɑsːɑfrɑs
• Syllabification^(key): sas‧saf‧ras
• Hyphenation^(key): sas‧saf‧ras

sassafras

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