🟣 A deep purple 🌿 A purple plant 🪵 A purple wood

purpleheart

8.9

A tropical tree with hard purple wood used for furniture and floors

noun
/ˈpɜrplˌhɑrt/

: madera de púrpura

She chose a striking purpleheart frame for her new artwork because of the rich color.

Examples

I love the rich color of purpleheart furniture.
Floors made from purpleheart are both beautiful and durable.
The craftsman selected purpleheart for the cabinet because of its striking color.
She admired the deep hue of the purpleheart table in the showroom.
The table is made of purpleheart wood.
The table was carefully crafted from purpleheart, showcasing its beautiful, dense wood grain.
The flooring in the dining room is made of durable purpleheart, making it both attractive and resilient.

Synonyms

Indian blackwood

vspurpleheart

Indian

9.5

A large Indian tree that people use for its very dark hard wood in furniture and musical instruments

is mainly used for furniture and flooring rather than instruments

Dalbergia latifolia

vspurpleheart

Specialized

9.9

A large Indian tree that loses its leaves and has hard dark purple wood used for furniture and guitars

is a tropical hardwood chosen for dense purple timber and flooring

East Indian rosewood

vspurpleheart

Indian

8.5

A large tree from India with dark, hard wood used for fine furniture and musical instruments

is described generally as tropical wood often used for furniture and flooring

Surface Forms

purpleheart singular

purplehearts plural

Morphology

purpleheart = purple + heart (semi-transparent) = purple + heart

Built from 'purple' + 'heart' referring to the purple-coloured heartwood; while the composition is clear, the identification of a particular tropical hardwood species is lexicalized.

Etymology

The word purpleheart for the tree and its wood comes from purple and heart because the tree's inner wood, or 'heart', is a striking purple. That's why furniture and floors made from this wood are called purpleheart and are prized for their colour and strength.