tupelo

¹

[too-puh-loh, tyoo-]

noun

plural

tupelos 

1. any of several trees of the genus Nyssa, having ovate leaves, clusters of minute flowers, and purple, berrylike fruit, especially N. aquatica, of swampy regions of the eastern, southern, and midwestern U.S.

2. the soft, light wood of these trees.

Tupelo

²

[too-puh-loh, tyoo-]

noun

1. a city in NE Mississippi.

tupelo

/ ˈtjuːpɪˌləʊ /

noun

1. any of several cornaceous trees of the genus Nyssa , esp N. aquatica , a large tree of deep swamps and rivers of the southern US

2. the light strong wood of any of these trees

Word History and Origins

Origin of tupelo¹

1720–30, perhaps < Creek *’topilwa literally, swamp tree (equivalent to íto tree + opílwa swamp)

Word History and Origins

Origin of tupelo¹

C18: from Creek ito opilwa , from ito tree + opilwa swamp

Example Sentences

The treed “Woodland Garden” to the west, with black tupelo and swamp white oaks, gives way to a “Perennial Meadow,” whose asters, purple beebalms and orange butterfly weed were chosen for their chromatic effect.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Like a honey that has a lot of other stuff besides tupelo in it and cutting our pure tupelo with it.

Read more on Salon

Fair Bluff is small-town idyllic, nestled among fields of corn and tobacco near the South Carolina border, shielded from the Lumber River by a narrow bank of tupelo gum, river birch and bald cypress trees.

Read more on New York Times

A generation ago, Warren said, the black gum or tupelo was a native tree little grown in urban landscapes.

Read more on Washington Post

These includes the most statuesque loblolly pine in the world, towering 167 feet above the surrounding tupelo forest.

Read more on New York Times