Meanings
plural tonka beans · alternative tonca bean · alternative tonga bean · alternative tonqua bean · alternative tonquin bean
- A black wrinkled seed of a neotropical legume tree of species Dipteryx odorata, used as a perfume and vanilla substitute due to its high coumarin content.
Like when she and Seema […] climb the tonka bean tree.
2022, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds, Hamish Hamilton, page 155
Synonyms & antonyms
nounfragrant black nutlike seeds of the tonka bean tree; used in perfumes and medicines and as a substitute for vanilla
nountall tropical South American tree having pulpy egg-shaped pods of fragrant black almond-shaped seeds used for flavoring
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Kari'natonka
- Guyanese Creole Englishtonka
- Englishtonka bean
Likely from Guyanese Creole English tonka, from a Tupian language, perhaps Kari'na tonka.
More words from Guyanese Creole English, Kari'na
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish tonkapapu
- tonkapapuseed of Dipteryx odorata
French tonka f tonca, fève tonka
- tonka f toncaseed of Dipteryx odorata
- fève tonkaseed of Dipteryx odorata
Spanish haba tonca f haba tonka f tonca, tonka
- haba tonca f haba tonka f toncaseed of Dipteryx odorata
- tonkaseed of Dipteryx odorata
Swedish tonkaböna
- tonkabönaseed of Dipteryx odorata
Turkish tonka fasulyesi
- tonka fasulyesiseed of Dipteryx odorata
Cite this entry
tonka bean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonka%20bean
“tonka bean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonka%20bean. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tonka bean,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonka%20bean.
Source: tonka bean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.