tonka bean

1. 1.

   fragrant black nutlike seeds of the tonka bean tree; used in perfumes and medicines and as a substitute for vanilla

   Synonymscoumara nut

   Broaderbean
2. 2.

   tall tropical South American tree having pulpy egg-shaped pods of fragrant black almond-shaped seeds used for flavoring

   Synonymstonka bean treeCoumarouna odorataDipteryx odorata

   Broaderbean tree

   Part ofCoumarouna

Questions about tonka bean

What does tonka bean mean?

tonka bean means "fragrant black nutlike seeds of the tonka bean tree; used in perfumes and medicines and as a substitute for vanilla". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for tonka bean?

Close synonyms include coumara nut, tonka bean tree, Coumarouna odorata, Dipteryx odorata. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is tonka bean a common word?

tonka bean is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.