inajá

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese inajá, from Old Tupi inaîá.

Noun

inajá (plural inajás)

1. The South American palm tree Attalea maripa (syn. Maximiliana maripa, formerly also Maximiliana regia).
   • 1864, Sophy Moody, The Palm Tree, page 286:

     The great woody spathes of the Inajá Palm are used by hunters as cooking vessels for their meat; when filled with water they stand fire.

   • 1908, Richard Spruce, Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon & Andes: […] , page 362:

     The peak on the left has a broader top, and bears a good deal of forest, among which I thought I could distinguish two palms, probably Inajás, for my Indians found an Inajá palm growing at the highest point they attained, and [...]

   • 2014, Nigel Smith, Palms and People in the Amazon, Springer, →ISBN, page 93:

     Because the palm is so useful, the [natives] of the Fresco River, a tributary of the Xingu, set fires to encourage groves of inajá (Hecht 2003).
     Fig. 13.2 Inajá palms in a pasture invaded by weeds.

Anagrams

• Naija

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• anajá, anaiá, najá

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Tupi inaîá.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /i.naˈʒa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /i.nɐˈʒa/

• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: i‧na‧já

Noun

inajá m (plural inajás) (Brazil)

1. inajá (Attalea maripa)

   Synonym: inajazeiro

2. the fruit of this tree

Descendants

• → English: inajá

References

• “inajá”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “inajá”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “inajá”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “inajá”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025