Sassafras
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -É‘Ës
- UK IPA: /ˈsasəfɹas/
Alternative forms
- saxefras 17th c.
Origin
From Spanish sasafras, possibly from Latin saxifragus ("stone-breaking") from the habit of certain plants growing in cracks in boulders.
Full definition of sassafras
Noun
sassafras
(countable and uncountable; plural sassafrass)- (countable) A tree of species of the eastern United States and Asia having mitten-shaped leaves and red, aromatic heartwood.
- (countable) A tree of any species in the genus Sassafras.
- (uncountable) The bark of the root of this plant, used for medicinal and (mostly historically) culinary purposes and formerly a main ingredient in root beer.
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 82:our allowance was somewhat bettered, by a daily proportion of Bisket, which the sailers would pilfer to sell, give, or exchange with us, for money, Saxefras, furres, or love.