Log in or Sign up
  1. star anise love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An aromatic eastern Asian evergreen tree (Illicium verum) having purple-red flowers and starlike clusters of anise-scented fruit.
  2. n. The fruit of this plant, used in Asian cooking and medicine.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The aromatic fruit of a Chinese shrub or small tree long supposed to be the Illicium anisatum of Linnæus, but recently determined to be a distinct species, I. verum (named by J. D. Hooker). The fruit is a stellate capsule of commonly eight carpels, each of which contains a single brown shining seed. The seeds contain four per cent. of a volatile oil with the odor and flavor of aniseed. or rather of fennel. Star-anise is used in China as a condiment and spice, and in continental Europe to flavor liquors. Also Chinese anise.
  2. n. The tree which yields star-anise.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A plant, Illicium verum, used primarily for its star-shaped seed which resembles anise in scent and flavor, and which is used as a spice. Valued for its decorative shape as well as its flavor. Also used commercially as a source of shikimic acid for the production of Tamiflu.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Bot.) any plant of the genus Illicium; -- so called from its star-shaped capsules.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. anise-scented star-shaped fruit or seed used in Asian cooking and medicine
  2. n. small shrubby tree of Japan and Taiwan; flowers are not fragrant
  3. n. small tree of China and Vietnam bearing anise-scented star-shaped fruit used in food and medicinally as a carminative

Examples

Sorry, no example sentences found.

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. spice
  1. anise tree

reverse dictionary (10)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. badian
  2. illicium
  1. anise-camphor
  2. magnoliaceous
  1. five-spice powder
  2. star anise
  1. star aniseed
  2. illicium verum
  1. Chinese anise
  2. five spice powder

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. Spice
  1. plant

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘star anise’

  1. badian

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘star anise’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • treeseed Star anise, star aniseed, badiane or Chinese star anise, (Chinese: 八角, pinyin: b�?jiǎo, lit. "eight-horn") is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China. The star shaped fruits are harvested just before ripening. It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, in Indian cuisine where it is a major component of garam masala, and in Malay/Indonesian cuisine. It is widely grown for commercial use in China, India, and most other countries in Asia. Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese cooking.
    _Wikipedia Feb 11, 2008

  • yarb Yum. This is lovely in every way. Sep 25, 2007

  • kewpid An essential ingredient in Pho. Sep 25, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for star anise.

‘star anise’ has been looked up 1368 times, added to 13 lists, commented on 3 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.