noun
mostly deciduous monoecious trees or shrubs: hornbeams; sometimes placed in subfamily Carpinaceae
• Syn: ↑genus Carpinus
• Hypernyms: ↑hamamelid dicot genus
• Member Holonyms: ↑Betulaceae, ↑family Betulaceae, ↑birch family
• Member Meronyms: ↑hornbeam, ↑European hornbeam, ↑Carpinus betulus, ↑American hornbeam, ↑Carpinus caroliniana
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\\kärˈpīnəs, -ēn-\ nounUsage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, hornbeam; akin to Lithuanian skirpstus copper beech and probably to Greek karpos fruit — more at harvest
: a genus of small trees (family Corylaceae) of the northern hemisphere having smooth fluted beechlike bark, straight-veined leaves, fruit that is a nut in the axil of a leaflike lobed bract, and very hard strong wood
Useful english dictionary. 2012.