palmetto

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pal=met=to

CIDE DICTIONARY

palmetto, n. [Dim. of palm the tree: cf. Sp. palmito.].

 A name given to palms of several genera and species growing in the West Indies and the Southern United States. In the United States, the name is applied especially to the Chamærops Palmetto, or Sabal Palmetto, the cabbage tree of Florida and the Carolinas. See Cabbage tree, under Cabbage.  [1913 Webster]

Royal palmetto, the West Indian Sabal umbraculifera, the trunk of which, when hollowed, is used for water pipes, etc. The leaves are used for thatching, and for making hats, ropes, etc. -- Saw palmetto, Sabal serrulata, a native of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The nearly impassable jungle which it forms is called palmetto scrub.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

palmetto, n. (pl. -os) a small palm tree, e.g. any of various fan palms of the genus Sabal or Chamaerops.

Etymology

Sp. palmito, dimin. of palma PALM(1), assim. to It. words in -etto