spinifex

[ spahy-nuh-feks ]

noun,plural spi·ni·fex, spi·ni·fex·es.
  1. any of several Australian grasses of the genera Spinifex, Plectrachne, or Triodia, having spiny seeds and stiff, sharp-pointed leaves that grow in dense masses.

Origin of spinifex

1
First recorded in 1845–55; from New Latin spīnifex, literally “spine maker,” equivalent to Latin spīn(a) “thorn, spine, backbone” + -i- + -fex

Words Nearby spinifex

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How to use spinifex in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for spinifex

spinifex

/ (ˈspɪnɪˌfɛks) /


noun
  1. Also called: porcupine grass Australian any of various coarse spiny-leaved inland grasses of the genus Triodia

  2. any grass of the SE Asian genus Spinifex, having pointed leaves and spiny seed heads: often planted to bind loose sand

Origin of spinifex

1
C19: from New Latin, from Latin spīna a thorn + -fex maker, from facere to make

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