Meaning & use
sumac
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Meanings
noununcountable
A tangy, deep-red spice made from the dried berries of certain shrubs, widely used in Middle Eastern cooking.
Grammar: Uncountable as a spice: some sumac, a pinch of sumac.
Patterns
- sprinkle sumac on something
- a pinch of sumac
She sprinkled sumac over the salad for a lemony taste.
Sumac gives the chicken a tart, fruity flavor.
Add a pinch of sumac to the yogurt.
nouncountablebiology
A shrub or small tree with red cone-shaped fruit clusters and leaves that turn bright red in autumn.
Grammar: As a plant it is countable: a sumac, several sumacs.
Patterns
- a sumac tree
- sumac leaves
The sumac along the road turned bright red in October.
A sumac grew by the fence.
Some kinds of sumac cause skin rashes, but most are harmless.
Word forms
| plural | sumacs |
|---|
Common combinations
- ground sumac
- Ground sumac is often sold in Middle Eastern shops.
- sprinkle sumac
- Sprinkle sumac on the rice before serving.
- sumac berries
- Sumac berries are dried and ground into powder.
- staghorn sumac
- Staghorn sumac has fuzzy red fruit clusters.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- sumach noun
- another spelling of sumac
- poison sumac noun
- a different, toxic plant that causes a rash
Commonly confused: sumac or poison sumac? sumac or sumo?
sumac vs poison sumac
Poison sumac is a toxic wetland shrub with white berries, not the red edible spice.
sumac vs sumo
Sumo is a form of wrestling; it sounds similar but means something entirely different.
Practice
The cook added ___ to the salad to give it a sour, lemony taste.
Choose one answer.
Sumac is tangy and tart, like lemon. Nutmeg and vanilla are sweet, and saffron is floral.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sumac”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.