akee

See also: akeeʼ

English

An open akee (fruit)

Alternative forms

• achee, ackee

Etymology

From Kru.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈækiː/, /əˈkiː/
• Rhymes: -iː (one pronunciation)

Noun

akee (plural akees)

1. A tropical evergreen tree, , related to the lychee and longan.
   • 1883, Daniel Morris, The Colony of British Honduras, Its Resources and Prospects, London: Edward Stanford, Chapter 7, p. 113,^[1]

     The beautiful Akee (Blighia sapida), originally brought from the West Coast of Africa by slave ships, is now a common tree in the West Indies, and I noticed several fine specimens in Belize.

   • 2009, Staceyann Chin, The Other Side of Paradise, New York: Scribner, “In My Father’s House,” p. 25,^[2]

     Delano and I are sprawled out under the ackee tree watching the black ants march from one rotten ackee pod to the next.

2. The fruit of the tree, of which only the arils are edible, the remainder being poisonous.

   Akee and saltfish is a traditional Jamaican dish.

   • 2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter Seven, pp. 104-105,^[3]

     The fleshy sacks that dangled down between his legs, like rotting ackees, wobbled.

Translations

tree

• French: aki (fr) m, akée
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

fruit

• Jamaican Creole: aki
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• akee on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Blighia sapida on Wikispecies.Wikispecies