mopani, mopane, noun
- Forms:
- Show more Also mapani, mapone, mopaane, mopané, mopanie, m’pani, mupani.
- Plurals:
- unchanged, or mopanis.
- Origin:
- Setswana, VendaShow more Setswana mopane (Venda mupani).
1. In full mopani tree: a. a tree of the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) and North-West Province, Colophospermum mopane of the Caesalpiniaceae, distinguished by rough, flaking bark, pale green flowers, and butterfly-shaped leaves formed of a pair of triangular leaflets joined at the base, which fold together in intense heat; turpentine tree. b. The hard, dark-red wood of this tree. Also attributive.
2. Used attributively, in the phrases mopani bush, mopani bushveld, mopani country, mopani veld, etc., a bush- or veld-type characterized by large numbers of mopani trees.
1928 E.H.L. Schwarz Kalahari & its Native Races 62This is good grass, not like that of the mopane veld which withers and blows away.
1988 S. Afr. Panorama MayThe hunting-grounds vary from red Kalahari dunes in the north-west Cape to grassy plains in the Free State, mopani bushveld and savannah in the Transvaal lowveld and baobab country beyond the Soutpansberg in the far north.
3. combinations
mopani worm, the caterpillar of the emperor-moth Gonimbrasia belina of the Saturniidae, which feeds on the mopani tree and is used as food particularly by the Tswana peoples; bosveld garnaal, see bosveld sense 3; bushveld prawn, see bushveld sense 3; see also masonja.
[1857mopani bee: D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 614The bees were always found in the natural cavities of mopane-trees.]
1990 G. Mokae in Frontline Sept. 28We may partake of delicacies that seem odd to white eyes, like mopani worms and horse meat.
a tree of the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) and North-West Province, Colophospermum mopane of the Caesalpiniaceae, distinguished by rough, flaking bark, pale green flowers, and butterfly-shaped leaves formed of a pair of triangular leaflets joined at the base, which fold together in intense heat; turpentine tree.
The hard, dark-red wood of this tree. Also attributive.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.