arbutus

A1R1B3U1T1U1S1

noun

A strawberry tree, any of the flowering plants in the genus Arbutus.

UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

nounarbutus (countable and uncountable, plural arbutuses or arbuti)

plural arbutuses · plural arbuti

  1. countableuncountableA strawberry tree, any of the flowering plants in the genus Arbutus.

    Many nights, though autumnal mists were spread around, I passed under an ilex - many times I have supped on arbutus berries and chestnuts, making a fire, gypsy-like, on the ground […]

    1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter X, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC
  2. countableuncountableA mayflower or trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens).
    1 more example

    Ah, who is he,—on whom young men and maidens look with pitying eye? to whom the old man lifts his hat, and little children cease from their sports as he passes, and quietly slip the innocent daisy, or the sweet-scented arbutus into his hand, which they have culled from the wide commons, where, they have been told, the good Sea-flower loved to stray.

    1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
  3. uncountableArbute; wood of strawberry trees.

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Latinarbutus
  2. taxonomic nameArbutus
  3. Englisharbutus

From taxonomic name Arbutus, from Latin arbutus.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

arbutus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arbutus

MLA

“arbutus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arbutus. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arbutus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arbutus.

Source: arbutus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.