Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Sycamore
/ˈsɪkəmɔːr/noun
Any of several unrelated large trees: a Middle Eastern fig, a European maple, or an American plane.
The Greek roots
σῦκον
sŷkon
fig
μόρον
móron
mulberry
Literally: “fig-mulberry”
The story of the word
Sykómoros described the Egyptian fig whose leaves resemble a mulberry's, the tree Zacchaeus climbs in Luke's gospel and the timber Egyptians used for coffins. The name then wandered badly. Britain gave it to a big maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, and North America gave it to a plane tree, so three unrelated species now answer to one Greek compound about figs.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
sycophantmulberry
In a sentence
A sycamore seed spins down like a badly made helicopter.
The sycamore on the corner drops enough leaves to fill the whole bin.