acacia

See also: Acacia, acácia, and acàcia

English

an acacia (Acacia acinacea) (1)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈkeɪ.ʃə/, /əˈkeɪ.sjə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈkeɪ.ʃə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃə

Etymology 1

From Latin acacia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía, “shittah tree”), either from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) (compare ἀκή (akḗ, “point”)) or more likely a Pre-Greek word. First attested before 1398. Doublet of cassie.

Noun

acacia (countable and uncountable, plural acacias or acaciae)

1. (countable) A shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   • 1997, Kenneth M. Old, Ian A. Hood, Zi Qing Yuan, Diseases of Tropical Acacias in Northern Queensland, K. M. Old, Su Lee See, J. K. Sharma (editors), Diseases of Tropical Acacias: Proceedings of an International Workshop held at Subanjeriji (South Sumatra) 28 April - 2 May 1996, page 1,

     The latter species was collected only once in this survey on A. flavescens but is widespread on both tropical and temperate acacias in Australia.

2. (uncountable, pharmacy) The thickened or dried juice of several species in Acacieae, in particular Vachellia nilotica (syn. Acacia nilotica, Egyptian acacia). [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
3. A false acacia; robinia tree (Robinia pseudoacacia). [First attested in the mid 17th century.]
4. (uncountable) Gum arabic; gum acacia. [First attested in the early 19th century.]
5. (loosely) Any of several related trees, such as a locust tree.
6. A light to moderate greenish yellow with a hint of red.
   acacia:  

Synonyms

• (shrub or tree of the genus Acacia): wattle (Australian varieties), thorntree, whistling thorn
• (inspissated juice of several species of Acacia): gum acacia, gum arabic

Derived terms

• acacetin
• Acacia Avenue
• acacia gum
• acacialike
• acacia tit (Melaniparus thruppi)
• acacia veld
• acaciin
• acacin
• false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia)
• gum acacia
• kangaroo acacia (Acacia paradoxa)
• Karoo acacia (Vachellia karroo)
• paradox acacia (Acacia paradoxa)
• rose-acacia (Robinia hispida)
• soap acacia (Senegalia rugata)
• stinking acacia (Acacia acuminata)
• yellow acacia (Acacia auriculiformis)

 

Descendants

• → Pohnpeian: akesia

Translations

shrub or tree

• Arabic: أَقَاقِيَا (ʔaqāqiyā), سَنْط (ar) (sanṭ), طَلْح (ṭalḥ), قَرَظ (qaraẓ)
• Armenian: ակացիա (hy) (akacʻia)
• Belarusian: акацыя f (akacyja)
• Bhojpuri: बबूल (babūl)
• Bulgarian: акация (bg) (akacija)
• Catalan: acàcia (ca) f
• Cebuano: akasya
• Chinese: please add this translation if you can
• Coptic:

  Sahidic: ϣⲟⲛⲧⲉ f (šonte)

  Bohairic: ϣⲟⲛϯ f (šonti)

  Fayyumic: ϣⲁⲛϯ f (šanti)

• Czech: akácie (cs) f, kapinice f
• Dutch: acacia (nl) m
• Esperanto: akacio
• Estonian: akaatsia (et)
• Finnish: akasia (fi)
• French: acacia (fr) m
• Georgian: აკაცია (aḳacia)
• German: Akazie (de) f
• Greek: ακακία (el) f (akakía)

  Ancient: ἀκακία f (akakía)

• Hebrew: שיטה (he) f
• Hiligaynon: akasya
• Hindi: बबूल (hi) m (babūl)
• Hungarian: akácia (hu)
• Hunsrik: Akassje f
• Icelandic: akasía (is) f
• Indonesian: akasia (id)
• Irish: acáise f, acaicia f, crann acaicia m
• Italian: acacia (it) f
• Japanese: アカシア (ja) (akashia)
• Kapampangan: akasya
• Latin: acacia f
• Macedonian: акација f (akacija)
• Malay: akasia
• Maltese: akaċja f
• Manx: acaashey f
• Maori: keiha
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: акаций (akacij)

• Norwegian: akasie (no) m
• Polish: akacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: acácia (pt) f
• Quechua: harka
• Romanian: acacia (ro) f
• Russian: ака́ция (ru) f (akácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: акација f

  Roman: akacija (sh) f

• Spanish: acacia (es) f, chacalshúchil m (Mexico)
• Swahili: mshita
• Swedish: acacia (sv), acaciaträd (sv), akacia (sv), akaciaträd
• Tagalog: langil, akasya (tl)
• Turkish: akasya (tr)
• Ukrainian: ака́ція (uk) f (akácija)
• Volapük: kaaziad, kaaziadabim
• Xhosa: umnga class 3/4

inspissated juice of Acacia

• Hindi: गोंद (hi) m (gond)

in Australia, the wattle tree

• Maori: wātera
• Ngarrindjeri: wurruldi

References

• “acacia”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Noun

acacia (plural acacias)

1. (history, classical studies) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.

Further reading

• Acacia in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Acacia in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin acacia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aːˈkaː.si.aː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: aca‧cia

Noun

acacia m (plural acacia's, diminutive acaciaatje n)

1. a shrub or tree of a species that belongs to the genus Acacia
2. any plant resembling an acacia

   (particularly) Synonym of robinia (“Robinia pseudoacacia”)

Derived terms

• valse acacia

 

Descendants

• → Indonesian: akasia

Further reading

• acacia on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ka.sja/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

acacia m (plural acacias)

1. acacia

Descendants

• → Moore: kasɩya

Further reading

• “acacia”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin acācia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía, “shittah tree”), from ἀκή (akḗ, “point”). Doublet of gaggia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈka.t͡ʃa/
• Rhymes: -atʃa
• Hyphenation: a‧cà‧cia

Noun

acacia f (plural acacie)

1. acacia (shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae), particularly:
   • 1567, Ricettario fiorentino [Florentine Cookbook]‎^[1], page 13:

     L’Acacia (ſecõdo Dioſcoride) è vn’arbuſcello d'Egitto, ſpinoſo, di rami folto, il quale non creſce in alto, e fa i fiori bianchi

     The acacia (according to Dioscorides) is an Egyptian sapling, thorny, with many branches, that does not develop in height, and makes white flowers

   1. silver wattle (Acacia dealbata)
   2. Mount Morgan wattle (Acacia podalyriifolia)
2. sweet acacia (Vachellia farnesiana)

   Synonym: gaggia

3. black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

   Synonym: robinia

Further reading

• acacia in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• acaica

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía), from ἀκή (akḗ, “point”).

Pronunciation 1

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈkaː.ki.a/, [äˈkäːkiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈka.t͡ʃi.a/, [äˈkäːt͡ʃiä]

Noun

acācia f (genitive acāciae); first declension

1. the gum arabic tree (Vachellia nilotica, syn. Acacia nilotica).
2. the juice or gum of this plant.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	acācia	acāciae
genitive	acāciae	acāciārum
dative	acāciae	acāciīs
accusative	acāciam	acāciās
ablative	acāciā	acāciīs
vocative	acācia	acāciae

Descendants

• Italian: gaggia
• Ligurian: gasîa
• Piedmontese: gasìa, gaseja
• Venetan: gazia
  • → Greek: γαζία (gazía)
• → Dutch: acacia
• → English: acacia
• → French: acacia
  • → Moore: kasɩya
• → Italian: acacia
• → Portuguese: acácia
• → Romanian: acacia
• → Spanish: acacia

Pronunciation 2

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈkaː.ki.aː/, [äˈkäːkiäː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈka.t͡ʃi.a/, [äˈkäːt͡ʃiä]

Noun

acāciā f

1. ablative singular of acācia

References

• “acacia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• acacia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin acacia or French acacia.

Noun

acacia f (plural acacii)

1. shrubs or trees of the genus Acacia

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin acacia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía) "a thorny Egyptian tree", from ἀκή (akḗ) "point, thorn".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /aˈkaθja/ [aˈka.θja]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /aˈkasja/ [aˈka.sja]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aθja
• Rhymes: -asja
• Syllabification: a‧ca‧cia

Noun

acacia f (plural acacias)

1. acacia (shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae)

Derived terms

• acacia de Constantinopla

 

Further reading

• “acacia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10