feijoa

American  

[fey-yoh-uh, -hoh-uh] / feɪˈyoʊ ə, -ˈhoʊ ə /

noun

1. a shrub, Feijoa sellowiana, of the myrtle family, native to South America, bearing edible, greenish, plumlike fruit.

2. the fruit of this shrub.

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feijoa British  

/ fiːˈdʒəʊə /

noun

1. an evergreen myrtaceous shrub, Feijoa sellowiana , of South America

2. the fruit of this shrub

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Etymology

Origin of feijoa

< New Latin (1858), after João da Silva Feijó (1760–1824), Brazilian soldier and naturalist; see -a ²

Example Sentences

Instead, the rodents brush against the scores of scarlet stamens, which carry the pollen that could then cling to the their fur coats until being transferred to another feijoa tree.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

The tale of rats and feijoa meeting in the city — and potentially elsewhere — is an unlikely love story: Neither is native to Colombia.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

If the rats are pollinating the feijoa plants, their behavior is a bit unusual.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

From his bedroom window, Mr. Matallana-Puerto saw that the brown rat accounted for 88 percent of all animal visits to feijoa flowers.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

At 76, he likes to sit about knitting afghan squares; he makes popovers and feijoa jam at his modest home on the Palo Alto campus.

From Time Magazine Archive