rambutan tree

8.0

A tropical tree from Southeast Asia that gives spiny red fruit you can eat

noun

Philippine

: árbol de rambután

The rambutan tree thrives in warm, humid climates and requires plenty of rainfall.

Examples

Farmers carefully prune each rambutan tree to encourage healthy fruit production.
We planted a rambutan tree in our backyard and enjoyed its fruit during the summer.
The rambutan tree grows in tropical climates.
Have you ever seen a rambutan tree?
Farmers carefully prune each rambutan tree to encourage healthy fruit production.
The rambutan tree thrives in warm, humid climates and requires plenty of rainfall.
We planted a rambutan tree in our backyard and enjoyed its fruit during the summer.

Synonyms

rambutan

vsrambutan tree

Philippine

9.6

A tropical tree from Southeast Asia that produces bright red, hairy fruit

is the everyday common name for that same fruit tree

rambotan

vsrambutan tree

Philippine

9.9

A tropical tree that grows red, spiky fruit with sweet white flesh

is the standard common name rather than this alternate form

Nephelium lappaceum

vsrambutan tree

Specialized

9.9

A tropical tree that grows red spiny fruit called rambutan

is the common English name used instead of the Latin term

Surface Forms

rambutan tree singular

rambutan trees plural

Morphology

rambutan + tree

The meaning 'a tree that produces rambutans' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'rambutan' (the fruit/tree) with 'tree'—it simply names the kind of tree. The noun-noun composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Rambutan tree comes from the Malay word rambut, which means 'hair', because the red fruit grows many soft, hair-like spikes. So the tree is named after its 'hairy' fruit.