frangipani
/ˌfrændʒɪˈpɑːni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.88 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of several tropical American shrubs and trees of the genus Plumeria, having fragrant, showy, funnel-shaped flowers of a wide range of colours from creamy to red.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A perfume obtained from this plant or imitating the odour of its flowers.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Alternative form of frangipane (“cream made from ground almonds; pastry filled with this cream”).
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The aroma given off by flowers has an aphrodisiac effect, especially on women. This is so particularly in the case of lilies of the valley, gardenia, frangipani, and henna."
- "I casually let this information drop as our concierge drives us through the resort in a buggy, a frangipani flower tucked behind his ear. He promises to fix the bug problem and drops us off at the lobby."
- "Lahlou baked a cardamom frangipani and cut it into pieces as a base for roasted chicken. (Well, I used chicken; he used squab. Use whatever bird you fancy.) Then he topped the frangipani and poultry with kale and leaf-thin sugar-and-cardamom-sprinkled phyllo rectangles — made by baking them between baking sheets — like a savory mille-feuille."
Etymology
From French frangipane, from Italian frangipane. Possibly named after Muzio Frangipane, a 16th-century marquess of the Italian noble Frangipani family, who invented a plumeria-scented perfume. The name Frangipane derives from frangere (“to break”) + pane (“bread”), a reference to the family's distribution of bread in time of famine.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
native frangipani