Meanings
plural pittosporums
- A plant of the genus Pittosporum, comprising various Old World shrubs and trees.First known use 18th c.
Coldish night. Scent of pittosporum and other blossoming plants stabs the air.
1987, Helen Garner, How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978–1998, Text Publishing, published 2025, page 3001 more example
Crimson and orange chats whistled from the heath of spinifex, pittosporums, mulga and eremophila scrubs growing along the sides of the lake.
2013, Alexis Wright, The Swan Book, Constable (2016), page 190
Origin
- Ancient Greekπίττα“pitch”
- New Latinpittosporum
- translingualPittosporum
- Englishpittosporum
A genericization of translingual Pittosporum, from New Latin pittosporum, from Ancient Greek πίττα (pítta, “pitch”) + σπόρος (spóros, “seed, spore”), from the sticky resin surrounding its seeds.
More words from translingual, New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حُبَض
- حُبَض (ḥubaḍ)Translations
French pittosporum
- pittosporumTranslations
Latin pittosporum
- pittosporumTranslations
Cite this entry
pittosporum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pittosporum
“pittosporum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pittosporum. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pittosporum,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pittosporum.
Source: pittosporum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.