alerce
Americannoun
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the wood of the sandarac tree.
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a Chilean evergreen tree, Fitzroya cupressoides, having furrowed, reddish bark and overlapping leaves.
noun
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the wood of the sandarac tree
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a cupressus-like Chilean pine, Fitzroya cupressoides, cut for timber
Etymology
Origin of alerce
First recorded in 1770–80; from Spanish, an extended meaning of alerce “European larch” (Larix decidua), influenced by Arabic al-ʾarz “the cypress, larch”; see origin at larch ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
During his travels, Darwin explored the island of Chiloé where he observed houses made of alerce, also known as Fitzroya cupressoides.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2024
The blaze broke out on Thursday at Los Alerces national park, a Unesco World Heritage site in northern Patagonia, which is home to huge alerce trees.
From BBC • Jan. 29, 2024
In 1993, Lara and a colleague discovered an alerce tree stump in Chile that was more than 3,622 years old, placing alerce trees above giant sequoias as among the oldest trees in the world.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2022
In unpublished work, he paired a partial count of the tree’s growth rings with statistical modeling to calculate that the alerce has an 80% probability of being more than 5000 years old.
From Science Magazine • May 25, 2022
On the higher parts, brushwood takes the place of larger trees, with here and there a red cedar or an alerce pine.
From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
