encina

¹ American  

[en-see-nuh] / ɛnˈsi nə /

noun

1. the live oak, Quercus virginiana.

2. California live oak.

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Encina ² American  

[en-thee-nah, -see] / ɛnˈθi nɑ, -ˈsi /

noun

1. Juan del 1468?-1529?, Spanish poet, composer, and playwright.

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Other Word Forms

• encinal adjective

Etymology

Origin of encina

An Americanism first recorded in 1905–10; from Latin American Spanish, Spanish: “holm oak,” by syncope, shortening, and assimilation, from Late Latin īlicīna “holm oak,” originally feminine of īlicīnus “pertaining to holm oak,” equivalent to Latin īlic- (stem of īlex ) ilex ¹ + -īnus -ine ¹

Example Sentences

Not only do tall pines grow everywhere, but there is a thick undergrowth of encina; the Yucca is large and green, mountain sage covers the soil, and grassy levels are dotted with flowers.

From Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos Papers Of The Archæological Institute Of America, American Series, Vol. I by Bandelier, Adolph Francis Alphonse

It was under an encina that I sat all one long morning reading up in reviews and textbooks on the theory of law, the life and opinions of Don Francisco.

From Rosinante to the Road Again by Dos Passos, John

The typical tree of Castile is the encina, a kind of live-oak that grows low with dense bluish foliage and a ribbed, knotted and contorted trunk; it always grows singly and on dry hills.

From Rosinante to the Road Again by Dos Passos, John

The she-goats, on the other hand, had scattered a little this way or that as this blade of grass or that spray of encina had allured them.

From The Firebrand by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)