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Glite Dictionary
🕯️ A hard wax 🌴 A Brazilian palm
carnauba

carnauba

9.9
A Brazilian palm tree that gives yellow wax and leaf fiber
  • noun
  • /kɑrˈnɔːbə/
translation icon : palma de carnauba
  • The leaves of the carnauba palm are harvested to produce a natural wax used in cosmetics and food.

Examples

  • Instead, companies have chosen to occupy the unutilized interspaces between the stands of carnaubas that dot the lower valley.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Their livelihood as goat herders, small agriculturalists, and carnauba processors all but disappeared.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In Brazil, the carnauba is often called 'the tree of life' due to its many uses and benefits.

  • The carnauba provides fiber that is used for various crafts and materials in local communities.

Synonyms

Copernicia prunifera
vscarnauba
  • Specialized
9.9

A Brazilian fan palm with edible roots and leaves used for fiber and yellow wax

is the common name rather than the scientific label
carnauba palm
vscarnauba
9.3

A Brazilian fan palm with an edible root used for wax and leaf fiber

is the everyday term focusing on wax source rather than scientific detail

Compounds

carnauba palm
9.3

A Brazilian fan palm with an edible root used for wax and leaf fiber

carnauba wax
8.1

A hard yellowish wax from a palm used to make surfaces shiny and protect them

Surface Forms

carnauba singular
carnaubas plural

Etymology

Carnauba is the Portuguese name carnaúba, taken from a native Tupi word for a Brazilian palm tree. People call this palm the 'tree of life' because it gives food, strong leaf fiber and a brittle yellowish 'wax', so the plant and its wax share the same name.