Etymology

rooibos

R1O1O1I1B3O1S1

Today it means: A shrub (Aspalathus linearis) from which a tisane (herbal tea) is made. Full definition →

Afrikaans rooibos ← Dutch rooi
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The story

  1. Dutch · derived fromrooi“red”
  2. Afrikaans · borrowed fromrooibos
  3. English todayrooibos

Unadapted borrowing from Afrikaans rooibos (literally “redbush”), from Dutch rooi (“red”) + bos (“bush”). Compare related honeybush via Afrikaans heuningbos from heuning (“honey”) + bos (“bush”).

Words from the same roots

Afrikaansrooibos all →

redbush

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.