Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural gink·goes.
- a large shade tree, Ginkgo biloba, native to China, having fan-shaped leaves and fleshy seeds with edible kernels: the sole surviving species of the gymnosperm family Ginkgoaceae, which thrived in the Jurassic Period, and existing almost exclusively in cultivation.
noun plural -goes or -koes
- a widely planted ornamental Chinese gymnosperm tree, Ginkgo biloba, with fan-shaped deciduous leaves and fleshy yellow fruit: phylum Ginkgophyta . It is used in herbal remedies and as a food supplementAlso called: maidenhair tree
1773, from Japanese ginkyo, from Chinese yin-hing, from yin “silver” + hing “apricot” (Sino-Japanese kyo). Introduced to New World 1784 by William Hamilton in his garden near Philadelphia.
- A deciduous, dioecious tree (Ginkgo biloba) which is the sole surviving member of the Ginkgoales, an order of gymnosperms that was extremely widespread in the Mesozoic era. It belongs to a genus which has changed very little since the end of the Jurassic period. The tree, a native of China, has fan-shaped leaves and fleshy yellowish seeds containing an edible kernel. Ginkgoes are often grown as ornamental street trees.