Dictionary

monkey puzzle en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmʊŋkiˌpʊz(ə)l/ (Northern-England)
• /ˈmʌŋkeˌpʌz(ə)l/ (Scotland)
• (US) audio
• /ˈmʌŋkiˌpʌz(ə)l/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)

Etymology

From monkey + puzzle, apparently because the branches are so crowded and twisted that even a monkey would find it difficult to climb.

Meanings

1. A large coniferous tree, Araucaria araucana, native to Chile.
   • Two days later I took it to the former manse, a solid grey stately Victorian building with a tall monkey puzzle tree on the lawn. 2003, Alasdair Gray, “Miss Kincaid's Autumn”, in Every Short Story, Edinburgh: Canongate, published 2012, page 747:
   • Even those, such as the vicar, who might by education have been supposed to put a less superstitious valuation upon her character and who were too tolerant to believe ill of the stage profession in itself and in the proper place, could not believe its transplantation into a village to be right or desirable. His sense of the fitness of things was as outraged as if a parishioner had suggested planting a monkey-puzzle over a mother's grave. 1953, Rosemary Manning, Remaining a Stranger, page 67:
   • They could see the small stone house where she used to live, with a monkey puzzle in front of it like a moustache. 1951, Victor Sawdon Pritchett, Mr Beluncle, New York: The Modern Library, published 2005, page 88:
   • In the late afternoon, I went for a walk along a monkey puzzle-lined trail. 2012, Lawrence Winkler, Orion's Cartwheel, Victoria, BC: First Choice Books, →ISBN, page 178:
   • Harry had always wanted a cedar tree on the lawn, as there had been in his old home, but had done the best he could by planting a monkey-puzzle, which was said to be quicker growing. 1958, Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings, Chapter Three:
   • While I am planting a monkey puzzle in the front garden in his memory, an old man stops and tells me he remembers, in his wild far-off youth, climbing a monkey puzzle for a bet – 'A great tall thing' – and being lacerated to pieces by the spikes. 1984, Jilly Cooper, The Common Years, Meuthen, page 129:

Forms

Synonyms

Chile pine · monkey tail tree · monkey puzzle tree · Chilean pine

Translations (26)

mt awrikarja (Araucaria araucana) · fr araucaria du Chili (Araucaria araucana) · cy cas gan fwnci (Araucaria araucana) · bg араукария (Araucaria araucana) · fr désespoir des singes (Araucaria araucana) · sv brödgran (Araucaria araucana) · de Affenschwanzbaum (Araucaria araucana) · da abernes skræk (Araucaria araucana) · es pehuén (Araucaria araucana) · es piñonero (Araucaria araucana) · de Schuppentanne (Araucaria araucana) · es pino araucaria (Araucaria araucana) · fi chilenaraukaria (Araucaria araucana) · ga arócar (Araucaria araucana) · es pino araucano (Araucaria araucana) · bg чилийски бор (Araucaria araucana) · arn pewen (Araucaria araucana) · de Chiletanne (Araucaria araucana) · es pino chileno (Araucaria araucana) · es araucaria (Araucaria araucana) · es pino patagónico (Araucaria araucana) · es pino de brazos (Araucaria araucana) · da abetræ (Araucaria araucana) · de Andentanne (Araucaria araucana) · sv apskräck (Araucaria araucana) · de chilenische Schmucktanne (Araucaria araucana)