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frangipani

American  
[fran-juh-pan-ee, -pah-nee] / ˌfræn dʒəˈpæn i, -ˈpɑ ni /

noun

  • frangipanis,
    plural
  • frangipani
    plural
  1. a tree or shrub of the genus Plumeria, especially Plumeria rubra, or the flowers from this tree.

  2. a perfume prepared from or imitating the scent of the Plumeria rubra flower.


frangipani British  
/ ˌfrændʒɪˈpɑːnɪ /

noun

  1. any tropical American apocynaceous shrub of the genus Plumeria , esp P. rubra , cultivated for its waxy typically white or pink flowers, which have a sweet overpowering scent

  2. a perfume prepared from this plant or resembling the odour of its flowers

  3. an Australian evergreen tree, Hymenosporum flavum , with large fragrant yellow flowers: family Pittosporaceae

"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 frangipani

First recorded in 1860–65; from French frangipane, after Marquis Muzio Frangipane or Frangipani a 16th-century Italian nobleman, the supposed inventor of the perfume

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:

The piece, a frangipani branch from his grandmother’s former garden in the neighborhood, will be planted in the museum’s garden, crossing temporal and spatial boundaries between the institution and the artist.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 4, 2025

After buying some land there across from a lagoon, they started planning their dream garden: ylang-ylang trees, frangipani, Tahitian rose.

From New York Times Aug. 17, 2017

Most of them, made supine by arrack cocktails and the prevailing air of lassitude, spent the day just slumbering and perspiring in the shade of flowering frangipani trees.

From Washington Post Dec. 8, 2016

They were surrounded by massive trees: cannonball and eucalyptus, bottlebrush and frangipani.

From The New Yorker Jun. 3, 2013

And everything that grows: frangipani, jacaranda, mangwansi beans, sugarcane, breadfruit, bird of paradise.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

And in the town center, butterflies and birds flutter among the frangipanis.

From New York Times Mar. 22, 2012

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