English

Noun

oyamel ‎(plural oyamels)

1. Abies religiosa, the sacred fir, an evergreen coniferous tree of South America with needle-like leaves.
   • 2008 March 7, Andrew C. Revkin, “Loggers Invaded Butterfly Haven, Photos Show”, in New York Times:

     Forests of oyamel fir trees in Michoacán and Mexico States have for thousands of years been a winter haven for the resplendent orange and black butterflies, the most famous “charismatic megafauna” of the insect world, said Lincoln P. Brower, a professor emeritus of biology at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, who has studied the butterflies and their shrinking winter habitat for decades.

Spanish

Etymology

From a Nahuatl source, cf. Classical Nahuatl oyametl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.ʝaˈmel/
• Rhymes: -el

Noun

oyamel m ‎(plural oyameles)

1. sacred fir (Abies religiosa)

References

• Carlos Montemayor et al. (2009) Diccionario del náhuatl en el español de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, page 99