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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• frangipani
  plural
• frangipanis
  plural

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

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

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

The straight lanes between the houses are lined with frangipani, bougainvillea, coconut and date palms, and banana trees thick with fruit.

From New York Times • May 16, 2011

He had raked underneath the frangipani trees, and dead leaves and pink flowers lay in piles, ready for the wheelbarrow.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie