tonka bean

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tonka bean (plural tonka beans)

  1. A black wrinkled seed of a neotropical legume tree of species Dipteryx odorata, used as a perfume and vanilla substitute due to its high coumarin content.
    • 2022, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds, Hamish Hamilton, page 155:
      Like when she and Seema […] climb the tonka bean tree.
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