Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tropical American evergreen tree (Genipa americana) having yellowish-white flowers and edible fruits used in preserves or drinks. The fruits yield dark blue dye that is used as a body paint by Indians of tropical America.
  • noun The reddish-brown fruit of this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fruit of Genipa Americana, of the West Indies and South America.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) The edible fruit of a West Indian tree (Genipa Americana) of the order Rubiaceæ. It is oval in shape, as a large as a small orange, of a pale greenish color, and with dark purple juice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The edible fruit of a West Indian tree Genipa Americana of the order Rubiaceæ, oval in shape, as a large as a small orange, of a pale greenish color, and with dark purple juice.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a succulent orange-sized tropical fruit with a thick rind

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese genipapo, from Tupí jenipapo, from yandi-ipab, genipap fruit.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word genipap.

Examples

  • -- This belongs to the cinchona family, and produces the fruit called genipap or marmalade box.

    Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861

  • The marks on their bodies were of a different, dark juice, genipap, which was used to create the most intricate of geometrical designs; a form of decoration that tended to distract the eye from the otherwise total nakedness of the Xara females.

    River Of Desire Taylor, Abra 1982

  • Because I was not brought up with my people, I am not very fast or very clever at the things a Xara woman must do - the weaving of baskets, the working with bark, the grating of manioc, the drawing of designs with genipap juice - "

    River Of Desire Taylor, Abra 1982

Comments

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