biriba
biriba Lexical Profile
• noun
A tropical tree (Annona mucosa) native to South America, or its edible, yellow, cone-shaped fruit which has a sweet, creamy pulp often compared to lemon meringue.
"At the market in Manaus, we bought fresh biriba and scooped out the sweet, translucent flesh with a spoon."
A popular Greek partnership card game of the rummy family, typically played with two standard decks of cards including jokers.
"During the long summer evenings in Athens, the family would gather on the terrace to play biriba."
The flexible, resilient wood of a Brazilian tree (Eschweilera ovata), traditionally used to craft the main bow of the berimbau in capoeira.
"The mestre carefully heated and bent the biriba branch to string his new berimbau."
Word Nuance & Usage
The term represents entirely unrelated concepts depending on cultural context: a tropical fruit or wood in Brazilian contexts, and a rummy-like card game in Greek contexts.
• Rhymes for biriba
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The botanical and musical term comes from Portuguese 'biribá', derived from the indigenous Tupi-Guarani language of Brazil. The name of the Greek card game is of uncertain origin, possibly linked to the historical Italian game 'biribissi'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.