any of several W African meliaceous trees of the genus Entandrophragma, esp E. cylindricum, yielding a hard timber resembling mahogany
2.
the timber obtained from such a tree, used to make furniture
Word origin
C20: West African name
sapele in American English
(səˈpili)
noun
1. Also called: aboudikro
the mahoganylike wood of any of several African trees of the genus Entandrophragma, used for making furniture
2.
a tree, esp Entandrophragma cylindricum, of the mahogany family, yielding this wood
Also called: sapele mahogany
Word origin
[1900–05; after Sapele, a port on the Benin River in S Nigeria]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Young Turk, cathode-ray tube, clone, decompression, throwaway