Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A South African shrub (Aspalathus linearis) in the pea family, having green needlelike leaves that turn red when oxidized and dried and are widely used to make tea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun South Africa A bush (Aspalanthus linearis) from which rooibos tea is made.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun South African shrub having flat acuminate leaves and yellow flowers; leaves are aromatic when dried and used to make an herbal tea

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Afrikaans : rooi, red (from Middle Dutch, root; see reudh- in Indo-European roots) + bos, shrub, forest (from Middle Dutch bosch, woods, forest; akin to English bush).]

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Examples

  • One of the things about rooibos is that its flavor is naturally a bit sharp, so blends have to take that into account.

    Year of the Tiger Tea (Republic of Tea) | Tea Derivations 2010

  • One of the things about rooibos is that its flavor is naturally a bit sharp, so blends have to take that into account.

    2010 February | Tea Derivations 2010

  • "The implication of this settlement is that the word rooibos may now be freely used in any product by any distributor whilst the brand name of a product e.g." Annique Rooibos "will still be protected by intellectual property laws."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2005

  • "The word rooibos is as South African as the words biltong, braaivleis and rugby," according to John Mann, a representative of rooibos farmers in Wuppertal.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • The company insists that the export of the tea and its by-products under the name rooibos was in direct conflict with its trademark.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • The word rooibos had been registered as a trademark in the

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • But I forgot: you can flavour those too, and I can, without hesitation, highly recommend the peach rooibos, which is a delightful concoction, and a coconut white tea, which provides a similar effect to a nice mild orgasm.

    Tea and seminar thingies: mariness 2005

  • So, bit by bit, the tea in the house had dwindled down to the desperate situation I was in yesterday morning: I had some African rooibos, another kind of rooibos that my wife owned and, because my sister was out of town, I could have a pot of her expensive white tea, mostly because she wasn't there to stop me.

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • So, bit by bit, the tea in the house had dwindled down to the desperate situation I was in yesterday morning: I had some African rooibos, another kind of rooibos that my wife owned and, because my sister was out of town, I could have a pot of her expensive white tea, mostly because she wasn't there to stop me.

    A crisis averted 2007

  • Limited, Watkins-Burke and Forever Young had signed an agreement that the word "rooibos" had become too generic of nature to be able to be registered as a trademark.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2005

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