A.Word.A.Day --bonsai

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bonsai

PRONUNCIATION:

(bon-SYE, BON-sye, -zye)

MEANING:

The art of growing miniature trees in shallow pots; a tree grown in this way.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Japanese bonsai (tray planting), from bon (basin) + sai (to plant), from Chinese pen (tray) and zai (plant).

USAGE:

"Comparing poverty to a bonsai plant, he said the poor are like these bonsai plants; given space and opportunity they can grow bigger since all are born-entrepreneurs."
Nobel Laureate Yunus Visits City; The Times of India (New Delhi); Aug 19, 2008.

See more usage examples of bonsai in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Religions are not revealed: they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice. There has never been a religion that fulfills those conditions. -Robert Blatchford, author (1851-1943)

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