thuja

noun

thu·​ja ˈthü-jə 

ˈthyü-

: any of a genus (Thuja) of evergreen shrubs and trees (such as an arborvitae) of the cypress family that are native to North America and eastern Asia, have flattened branchlets with closely overlapping scalelike leaves, and include various dwarf horticultural cultivars

Examples of thuja in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The ordinance also required them to completely remove from their property all acacia, bamboo, thuja, juniper, Italian cypress, gorse and four types of broom. —Kathleen Pender, SFChronicle.com, 23 Nov. 2019

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, genus name, variant of thuia, irregular latinization of Greek thyía, alleged to be a name for the "odorous cedar," Juniperus foetidissima, of uncertain origin

Note: Greek thyía is a alleged to be a name for Juniperus foetidissima in Liddell and Scott; the identification is followed by Chantraine, and apparently by Arthur Hort in his bilingual edition of Theophrastus' Enquiry into Plants, if "odorous cedar" is understood to be Juniperus foetidissima, as in Liddell and Scott. As Theophrastus gives no description of the tree in the relevant passages (1.9.3, 4.1.3), it is difficult to see a basis for the identification. Derivationally, thyía appears to be a re-formation of thýon or thýa, a name for Tetraclinis articulata, another evergreen of the cypress family that was prized for its wood—see note at cedar. This set of words denoting trees have all been taken as derivatives of the verb thýein "to sacrifice, make a burnt offering" (see fume entry 1), presumably on the grounds that the wood of the trees is fragrant when burned—though the assumption is perhaps no more than folk etymology. Compare thyme.

First Known Use

1738, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for thuja

• hallelujah