sycamore

[ sik-uh-mawr, -mohr ]

noun

1. Also called buttonwood. any of several North American plane trees, especially Platanus occidentalis, having shallowly lobed ovate leaves, globular seed heads, and wood valued as timber.
2. British. the sycamore maple.
3. a tree, Ficus sycomorus, of the Middle East, related to the common fig, bearing an edible fruit.

sycamore

/ ˈsɪkəˌmɔː /

noun

1. a Eurasian maple tree, Acer pseudoplatanus, naturalized in Britain and North America, having five-lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and two-winged fruits
2. See plane tree
   an American plane tree, Platanus occidentalis See plane tree
3. Alsosycomore a moraceous tree, Ficus sycomorus, of N Africa and W Asia, having an edible figlike fruit

Word History and Origins

Origin of sycamore¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English sicomore, from Old French from Latin sȳcomorus from Greek sȳkómoros, equivalent to sŷko ( n ) “fig” + mór ( on ) “mulberry” + -os noun suffix, apparently by folk etymology from Semitic; compare Hebrew shiqmāh “sycamore”

Word History and Origins

Origin of sycamore¹

C14: from Old French sicamor, from Latin sӯcomorus, from Greek sukomoros, from sukon fig + moron mulberry

Example Sentences

Beside the Scola Brothers Grocery is a sycamore, its branches silhouetted against the white wall.

From The Daily Beast

“A Time to Kill is very autobiographical, and so is Sycamore Row,” Grisham acknowledged.

From The Daily Beast

The two came to America in 1946, and he grew up in Sycamore.

From The Daily Beast

In 1977, back-up singer/girlfriend Gloria Jones wrapped their purple Mini around a sycamore tree.

From The Daily Beast

I found Miss Goodwin still sitting where I had left her, under the sycamore before the house.

From Project Gutenberg

We moved across the dewy lawn to a bench beneath the sycamore that guarded the house, and sat down.

From Project Gutenberg

Its banks are lined with tall forests of cotton-wood and sycamore, and its bottoms are wide and fertile.

From Project Gutenberg

He must have been as much surprised, when going out of the chapel as Zaccheus was when he dropped down out of the sycamore tree.

From Project Gutenberg

The sycamore was sure to fall anyway, and in falling it would certainly crush some of the trees around it.

From Project Gutenberg