Meanings
plural spinifexes
- countableuncountableAny of numerous species of grass in genus Spinifex, growing in sand dunes.
- AustraliacountableuncountableAny of several spiny grass species of the genus Triodia, endemic to arid outback Australia.
1 more example
And there will be Ethel watching, just standing there, stirring something on the kitchen stove, or dusting the mahogany sideboard, or polishing the silver, and looking out the window, staring, just staring, as though she were watching the spinifex growing, or the sky hanging there, just staring with that terrible effrontery of someone who will not deign to react.
1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 269
comparative more spinifex · superlative most spinifex
- chemistryComposed of dendritic plates, which present as the scored texture of bundled, spine-like structures typical of komatiites.
Origin
- Latinfacere“to make”
- Latin-fex“maker”
- Latinspina“spine”
- translingualSpinifex
- Englishspinifex
From translingual Spinifex (genus name), from Latin spina (“spine”) + Latin -fex (“maker”) (from Latin facere (“to make”)).
More words from translingual, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Māori turikākoa
- turikākoacoastal grass
Cite this entry
spinifex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spinifex
“spinifex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spinifex. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spinifex,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spinifex.
Source: spinifex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.