palmetto
Americannoun
-
palmettos,
plural
-
palmettoes
plural
noun
-
any of several small chiefly tropical fan palms, esp any of the genus Sabal, of the southeastern US See also cabbage palmetto saw palmetto
-
any of various other fan palms such as palms of the genera Serenoa, Thrinax, and Chamaerops
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of palmetto
1555–65; earlier palmito < Spanish, diminutive of palma palm 2; -etto by association with -ette
Explanation
A palmetto is a type of palm tree. You're most likely to see palmettos in South America or the southern US states, instead of say Nebraska. A palmetto (the "cabbage palmetto, to be specific) is Florida's official state tree, and South Carolina is known as "the palmetto state." Palmettos are fan palms, with leaves in the shape of fans that are arranged in a rounded shape. The very middle of the palmetto plant is edible, and when it's harvested and sold as food, it's called "heart of palm." Palmetto comes from the Spanish palmito, "little palm tree."
Vocabulary lists containing palmetto
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:
“I usually tell patients the only thing saw palmetto does is hurt your wallet,” Nakada said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2024
Herbal supplements such as saw palmetto are not currently recommended, although some men say they work for them.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2024
Nashville’s local palms, the dwarf palmetto and Sabal minor, might, at best, yield a fluffy lowercase m.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2023
A palmetto tree and crescent moon — emblems of South Carolina — hang from a chain around her neck.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2023
Mama sent Doc off to find her some saw palmetto to make tea.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
I rather think she saw her meanings more than her trees," said Winthrop; "I venture to say she couldn't have told you whether they were cypresses or myrtles, palmettoes or gums; such people never can.
From East Angels by Constance Fenimore Woolson
They were advancing in column of route when they were attacked by the enemy, who rose in a swarm out of the cover of long grass and palmettoes.
From Osceola the Seminole The Red Fawn of the Flower Land by Mayne Reid
Above them swayed the shining green palmettoes Vocal and plaintive at the winds' caress; While, at the edge of sight, the fluent silver Of sea and bay framed the wide loneliness.
From Carolina Chansons Legends of the Low Country by DuBose Heyward
The camp was in a bend of the Del Norte, in a glade surrounded by tall cotton-woods, whose smooth trunks rose vertically out of a thick underwood of palmettoes and Spanish bayonet.
From The Scalp Hunters by F.A. Stewart
Over fallen trees, through dense cane-brakes, through clumps of palmettoes and pawpaw thickets, I passed, dashing the branches from my path, and lacerating my skin at every step.
From The Quadroon Adventures in the Far West by Mayne Reid
“Our ownly food was palmettos boiled with the meat and without salt, and the cores of palm trees” — hearts of palm, a future foodie TikTok rage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
During the day, she shapes topiary and rinses fungicide residue from palmettos so they can be passed off as organic.
From New York Times ● May 17, 2022
On a humid afternoon in June 1954, my parents married in a whitewashed Methodist church in my mother’s hometown in rural south Georgia, rosette windows and palmettos framing the front doors.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 4, 2021
Her work included a study of palmettos near her home at 71 Rutledge Ave. and possibly field research on the Isle of Palms.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 6, 2021
Now, the whole family joined the dance, leaping, screaming, and racing past parked cars and the weird shadows cast by palmettos.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
