palmetto

English

a palmetto (Sabal palmetto)

Etymology

From Spanish palmito, diminutive of palma (“palm tree”), from Latin palma.

Noun

palmetto (plural palmettos or palmettoes)

1. Any of various fan palms of the family Arecaceae, especially Sabal palmetto or the saw palmetto, Serenoa repens. [from 16th c.]
   • 1727, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     Broad o'er my Head the verdant Cedar wave, / And high Palmetos lift their graceful Shade.

   • 1987, Joan Didion, Miami, Granta, published 2005, page 13:

     [O]n the flat coastal swamps of South Florida, where the palmettos once blew over the detritus of a dozen failed booms and the hotels were boarded up six months a year, there has evolved […] a settlement of considerable interest […] .

2. A hat made of palmetto leaves.
3. A native or resident of the US state of South Carolina.

Coordinate terms

• (South Carolina native or resident): palmetta (feminine)

Derived terms

• Bermuda palmetto (Sabal bermudana)
• Birmingham palmetto (Sabal 'Birmingham')
• bush palmetto (Sabal minor)
• cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto)
• dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor)
• Hispaniola palmetto (Sabal domingensis)
• Mexican palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• palmetto bug (Periplaneta americana)
• palmetto skipper (Euphyes arpa)
• Rio Grande palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• royal palmetto (Sabal pumos)
• saw palmetto (Chamaerops humilis)
• saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)
• scrub palmetto (Sabal etonia)
• Sonoran palmetto (Sabal uresana)
• Texas palmetto (Sabal mexicana)
• Yucatán palmetto (Sabal gretheriae)

References

• “palmetto”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• palmetto on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Serenoa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Sabal on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Serenoa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Sabal on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• metaplot, pot metal