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💃 A lively dance 💃 To dance 🌳 A light wood 🃏 A canasta game
samba

samba

9.9
A large West African tree with soft, light wood used for furniture
  • noun
  • /ˈsæmbə/
  • UK
translation icon : obeche
  • The samba tree is known for its large, palmately lobed leaves and clusters of small white flowers.

Examples

  • The timber from a samba tree is favored for making lightweight furniture.

  • Due to its soft white wood, the samba is often used in construction of airplanes.

  • Though rare, accounts do exist of a mukanda ritual in which masks were used among the so-called Luba-Shyankadi (Luba-Samba) in southwestern Katanga Province.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

Triplochiton scleroxylon
vssamba
  • Specialized
9.9

A large West African tree with light soft wood for making furniture, often called obeche

is the common name used for that same species rather than the formal label
obeche
vssamba
  • UK
9.9

A large West African tree that has large lobed leaves and soft pale wood

is used more generally for lightweight timber rather than mainly for veneers
obechi
vssamba
  • UK
9.9

A large West African tree with soft pale wood used for furniture and plywood

is the primary form in the description rather than this alternate spelling
arere
vssamba
9.9

A large West African tree with divided leaves, small white flowers, and soft pale wood

includes one-winged seed detail and a clearer species identification absent here

Surface Forms

samba singular
sambas plural

Etymology

Samba for a West African tree is the local name people used for that wood, and English borrowed the name. That is why the lightweight timber and the tree are called samba in carpentry and trade.