different between platanus vs sycamore

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???????? (plátanos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?pla.ta.nus/, [?p??ät?än?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?pla.ta.nus/, [?pl??t??nus]

Noun

platanus f (genitive platan?); second declension

1. planetree, sycamore

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Derived terms

• platan?nus

Related terms

• platanon

Descendants

References

• platanus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• platanus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• platanus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• platanus in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

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