Meaning & use
palissander
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Meanings
noununcountablerare
A dark, heavy, valuable timber from certain tropical trees, used especially for fine furniture and musical instruments.
Grammar: Uncountable when talking about the material; for a specific type, use a phrase like 'a piece of palissander'.
Patterns
- made of palissander
- a palissander veneer
The antique cabinet was made of palissander and had a deep reddish-brown glow.
Guitar makers prize palissander for the back and sides of high-end instruments.
nouncountableraretechnical
The tree that produces this timber, especially Dalbergia species native to South America and Africa.
Grammar: Countable when referring to the living tree; plural is palissanders.
Patterns
- a palissander tree
- plant palissander
Palissander trees grow slowly in the rainforest and are now protected in many countries.
The furniture workshop imports palissander from sustainable plantations.
Word forms
| plural | palissanders |
|---|
Common combinations
- palissander wood
- The table was carved from solid palissander wood.
- palissander veneer
- The cheaper desk had a palissander veneer over pine.
- palissander finish
- The craftsman applied a clear palissander finish to protect the grain.
- a piece of palissander
- He bought a small piece of palissander to repair the chair leg.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rosewood
- The common everyday name for the same timber; palissander is a rarer, more specialist term.
- Brazilian rosewood
- A specific type of palissander from Brazil, often used in guitars; more precise than the general word.
Word family
- palissandre noun
- The French spelling, sometimes seen in English texts about antiques.
Commonly confused: palissander or palisander? palissander or rosewood?
palissander vs palisander
A common misspelling with one 's' and one 'l' swapped; the correct English form is palissander.
palissander vs rosewood
Rosewood is the general term; palissander often refers specifically to the dark, striped varieties from South America.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'palissander' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Palissander is a type of wood, so it fits the context of making furniture. Option 1 uses it as a verb, which is not standard. Option 2 treats it as a fast-growing garden plant, but palissander trees are slow-growing and tropical. Option 3 confuses it with a fruit or food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “palissander”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.