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cryptomeria

noun
cryp·​to·​me·​ria | \ ˌkrip-tə-ˈmir-ē-ə How to pronounce cryptomeria (audio) \

Definition of cryptomeria

: japanese cedar

Examples of cryptomeria in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 The priest, sandals slapping, heads down a lane lined with stone lanterns and towering cryptomeria trees to a gateway, or torii, that bears the mountain’s name. — Gilles Mingasson, Smithsonian, "Why Mount Fuji Endures As a Powerful Force in Japan," 29 May 2017

First Known Use of cryptomeria

1841, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for cryptomeria

borrowed from New Latin Cryptomeria, genus name, from crypto- crypto- + -meria, borrowed from Greek -mereia "condition of having parts (of such a kind)," derivative of -merēs "having parts (of such a kind)," adjective derivative of méros "part" — more at merit entry 1

Note: Genus name introduced by the Scottish botanist David Don (1799-1841) in Annals of Natural History, vol. 1 (1838), p. 233-34. In a later publication ("Descriptions of two new Genera of the Natural Family of Plants called Coniferae," Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, v. 18 [1841], pp. 163-79), Don states that the generic name was suggested by "the concealed position of the reproductive organs" (p. 171).

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