different between buttonwood vs sycamore

English

Etymology

button +? wood

Noun

buttonwood (plural buttonwoods)

1. The common name given to at least three species of shrub or tree.
   1. The mangrove tree (Conocarpus erectus, family Combretaceae) a tropical and subtropical species.
      • 1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Yearling, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter 24, p. 303,^[1]

        On the opposite bank was a fresh ’gator wallow. The mud had been packed smooth where they turned and rolled their hard bodies. Penny dropped to his haunches behind a buttonwood bush.

   2. The American sycamore or American plane tree (Platanus occidentalis, family Platanaceae).
      • 1824, Washington Irving (as Geoffrey Crayon), “Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams” in Tales of a Traveller, Volume 2, Part 4, Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, p. 55,^[2]

        Thus quietly and comfortably did this excellent family vegetate under the shade of a mighty buttonwood tree, which by little and little grew so great as entirely to overshadow their palace.

      • 1835, Fanny Kemble, Journal of a Residence in America, Paris: A. and W. Galignani, entry dated Sunday, 13  January, 1833, p. 234,^[3]

        When near, the trees look singularly deplorable and untidy, although at the distance, the red-brown of the faded oaks mingling with the bright, vivid, green cedars, and here and there a silver-barked buttonwood tree raising its white delicate branches from among them, produce a very agreeable and harmonious blending to the eye.

   3. California sycamore or western sycamore (Platanus racemosa).

Translations

See also

• Conocarpus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• American sycamore on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• California sycamore on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Conocarpus erectus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Platanus occidentalis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Platanus racemosa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

English

Alternative forms

• sycomore

Etymology

Circa 1350, from Old French sicamor, from Latin s?comorus, from Ancient Greek ????????? (s?kómoros, literally “fig-mulberry”), from ????? (sûkon, “fig”) + ????? (móron, “mulberry”). Possibly influenced by Hebrew ????????? (shikmá, “fig-mulberry”).

In the 16th c. applied to the European maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), in the early 19th c. to various plane tree species introduced to North America, perhaps in analogy to their shadiness.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?k?m??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?k?m??/
• Homophone: sycomore
• Hyphenation: syc?a?more

Noun

sycamore (countable and uncountable, plural sycamores)

1. (US) Any of several North American plane trees, of the genus Platanus, especially Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore), distinguished by its mottled bark which flakes off in large irregular masses.

   Synonyms: planetree, plane

   Hyponym: buttonwood

   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 408]:

     On his dark face were white sycamore patches.

2. (Britain) A large British and European species of maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, known in North America as the sycamore maple.
3. (originally) A large tree bearing edible fruit, Ficus sycomorus, allied to the common fig and found in Egypt and Syria.

   Synonyms: sycomore, sycomore fig, fig-mulberry

Related terms

• sycophant

Translations

Further reading

• sycamore in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sycamore in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• sycamore at OneLook Dictionary Search
• sycamore on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References