ˈsābə noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Spanish, probably of Arawakan origin; akin to Taino ceyba
1. capitalized : a large genus of tropical American trees (family Bombacaceae) with palmately compound leaves and showy bell-shaped flowers
2. -s
[Spanish ceiba ]
a. or ceiba tree : a massive tree ( Ceiba pentandra ) widely cultivated in the tropics having a trunk of large size with buttresslike ridges and bearing large pods filled with seeds invested with a silky floss that yields in the cultivated state the fiber kapok — called also Bombay ceiba, God tree, silk-cotton tree
b. : kapok