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ceiba

American  
[say-buh, sahy-, thay-bah, say-] / ˈseɪ bə, ˈsaɪ-, ˈθeɪ βɑ, ˈseɪ- /

noun

  • ceibas
    plural
  1. the silk-cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra.

  2. silk cotton; kapok.


ceiba British  
/ ˈseɪbə /

noun

  1. any bombacaceous tropical tree of the genus Ceiba, such as the silk-cotton tree

  2. silk cotton; kapok

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of ceiba

First recorded in 1805–15; from Spanish, from Taíno ceyba or its cognate in another Arawakan language


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.

See Examples For:

Here's a story about the 400-year-old ceiba tree on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2019

In one entrancing swath of forest, towering ceiba trees loom and hooting howler monkeys leap from branch to branch in the understory.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 26, 2018

Utuado is surrounded by dense forest of native ceiba, Asian teaks, and West Indian and Honduran mahogany where parrots roost.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2017

THE road to Atjoni got more interesting as the wind grew stronger, making the surrounding ceiba trees of the Surinamese jungle murmur with whispers of an impending storm.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2011

I find them jumping on the trampoline, daring each other to see who can touch the branches of the ceiba tree.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

Driving west from El Hormiguero toward the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the road wends through ceibas, strangler figs, and sapodillas, a tree prized since Maya times for its chicle gum.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023

There are rare and remarkable trees here,—acomats, courbarils, balatas, ceibas or fromagers, acajous, gommiers;—hundreds have been cut down by charcoal- makers; but the forest is still grand.

From Two Years in the French West Indies by Lafcadio Hearn

In its vicinity are sugar plantations, tobacco fields, pineapples, cocoanuts, mangoes, royal palms, ceibas, peasants' homes, typical towns and villages, all the life of the people in the city and country.

From Cuba, Old and New by Albert G. (Albert Gardner) Robinson

The banks of the Manzanares are very pleasant, and are shaded by mimosas, erythrinas, ceibas, and other trees of gigantic growth.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 by Thomasina Ross

Farther out it was whipped into a yellow cream by the thrashing branches of uprooted trees, ceibas and cedars, huge as a church, which rolled and tumbled as their submerged limbs caught on the bottom.

From The Mystery of The Barranca by Herman Whitaker

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