Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

yaupon

/ˈjoʊˌpɑn/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.25 in modern English

Syllables: yaupon
IPA: /ˈjoʊˌpɑn/

11

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, an evergreen holly shrub with white flowers and red or yellow berries, found in the south-eastern United States.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A tea-like drink, "black drink", brewed from the leaves of this holly (or, sometimes, Ilex cassine).

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Yaupon is evergreen like the American holly and the familiar hollies of Christmas decorations, but the leaves of yaupon are small and smooth-edged rather than prickly. Easy to chew and blandly tasty, they would not stand out in a tossed salad."
"“I found some yaupon and made some tea. It's North America's only native caffeinated plant. Well, dahoon, but you're not gonna find that in --”"

Etymology

From a Catawba word, most likely yap, yop, yą (“tree”), with the second element being either a diminutive suffix or pą (“leaf”) (resulting in the compound yąpą); alternatively, perhaps directly from a longer form of the word for leaf, 'yap'hâ.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈjoʊˌpɑn/

Usage

Inflected Forms

yaupons (plural) yapan (alternative) yopon (alternative) youpon (alternative) yupon (alternative) yawpan (alternative) yaupan (alternative)

Phrases

black drink

Frequently Paired Words

black drink cassina

Questions

How do you pronounce yaupon?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈjoʊˌpɑn/.
What does yaupon mean?: The yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, an evergreen holly shrub with white flowers and red or yellow berries, found in the south-eastern United States.
Where does yaupon come from?: From a Catawba word, most likely yap, yop, yą (“tree”), with the second element being either a diminutive suffix or pą (“leaf”) (resulting in the compound yąpą); alternatively, perhaps directly from a longer form of the word for leaf, 'yap'hâ.

How to pronounce yaupon

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “yaupon”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈjoʊˌpɑn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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