Indian rosewood
- noun
- Indian
:
palosanto
- Many guitars feature backs and sides made of Indian rosewood for their tonal quality.
Examples
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The furniture was crafted from Indian rosewood and had a rich, deep hue.
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Demand for Indian rosewood has increased due to its durability and beauty in fine woodworking.
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The Indian rosewood is prized for its durability.
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Many musicians prefer instruments made from Indian rosewood.
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The craftsmen chose Indian rosewood for the table due to its rich color and strength.
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Indian rosewood is often used to make high-quality guitars because of its durable nature.
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The furniture made from Indian rosewood is known for its beautiful finish and long-lasting quality.
Synonyms
5
5.7
A hard dark reddish wood from tropical trees used to make fine furniture and musical instruments
A large Indian tree with hard dark purple-brown wood used for fine furniture and musical instruments
A large tree from India with dark, hard wood used for fine furniture and musical instruments
A large Indian tree that loses its leaves and has hard dark purple wood used for furniture and guitars
A large Indian tree that people use for its very dark hard wood in furniture and musical instruments
A tropical tree with strong fragrant wood used for fine furniture and musical instruments
A tropical tree that makes hard dark red wood with black streaks, used for fine furniture and musical instruments
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'Indian' specifies origin and 'rosewood' names the species/wood, so the phrase denotes rosewood from India (or the tree producing it). This adjective+noun combination follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Indian rosewood gets its name from early traders who called the wood 'pau-rosa' or 'rose wood' because the fresh-cut wood sometimes smelled a little like roses. So rosewood came to mean that fragrant, dark wood and Indian shows this type comes from India, which is why the name now means the hard, beautiful wood used for furniture and musical instruments.