cryptomeria

noun

cryp·​to·​me·​ria ˌkrip-tə-ˈmir-ē-ə 

: japanese cedar

Examples of cryptomeria in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Naka remembered a Japanese cryptomeria forest growing near a shrine in Japan and wanted to emulate its majesty in a forest bonsai. —Discover Magazine, 10 July 2012

Next to it is a cryptomeria, and next are two more pine trees. —oregonlive, 2 Oct. 2022

There’s also a sculptural bronze firepit ringed by curved granite benches that look out to one of Tony Cragg’s spectacularly twisting totems, shaded by towering cryptomeria trees, with the trellises of the historic rose garden visible beyond. —ELLE Decor, 19 Sep. 2022

One favorite find is a circa 1950 Japanese cryptomeria wood carving of a toad, complete with baby toads on its back; this takes pride of place in the foyer. —Robert Rufino, House Beautiful, 4 Aug. 2022

Most of the furniture and finishings were made on the island, much from a native wood called cryptomeria. —Ann Abel, Forbes, 16 May 2022

The priest, sandals slapping, heads down a lane lined with stone lanterns and towering cryptomeria trees to a gateway, or torii, that bears the mountain’s name. —Gilles Mingasson, Smithsonian, 29 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Cryptomeria, genus name, from crypto- crypto- + -meria, borrowed from Greek -mereia "condition of having parts (of such a kind)," derivative of -merēs "having parts (of such a kind)," adjective derivative of méros "part" — more at merit entry 1

Note: Genus name introduced by the Scottish botanist David Don (1799-1841) in Annals of Natural History, vol. 1 (1838), p. 233-34. In a later publication ("Descriptions of two new Genera of the Natural Family of Plants called Coniferae," Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, v. 18 [1841], pp. 163-79), Don states that the generic name was suggested by "the concealed position of the reproductive organs" (p. 171).

First Known Use

1841, in the meaning defined above