Meanings
plural talipots
- A tall palm tree, Corypha umbraculifera, from Sri Lanka and southern India, having very large leaves which were used as a material to write on.
The leaves of the talipot or palmyra tree were rolled and boiled and oiled so as to prepare them for use in the writing of a manuscript.
2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 3471 more example
On Sunday, Oct. 12. being ſtored vvith all things needful for their Journey, viz. Ten Days Proviſion, a Baſin to boil their Provision in, two Calabaſhes to fetch VVater in, and tvvo great Tallipat Leaves for Tents, with Jaggory, Svveet-meats, Tobacco, Betell, Tinder-Boxes, and a Deer-Skin for Shoes, to keep their Feet from Thorns, becauſe to them they chiefly truſted.
1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, page 304Synonyms: talipot palm
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA tall palm tree, Corypha umbraculifera, from Sri Lanka and southern India, having very large leaves which were used as a material to write on.
More synonyms by meaning
nountall palm of southern India and Sri Lanka with gigantic leaves used as umbrellas and fans or cut into strips for writing paper
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Sanskrit[Term?]
- Malayalam[script needed]
- Sinhalese[script needed]
- Englishtalipot
Borrowed from Sinhalese [script needed] (talapata), Malayalam [script needed] (tālipat), from Sanskrit [Term?].
More words from Sinhalese, Malayalam, Sanskrit
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
talipot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talipot
“talipot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talipot. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “talipot,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talipot.
Source: talipot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.