A lightweight tropical African tree with soft, spongy wood, or the wood itself, used for making rafts and buoys.
From Arabic 'ambaj' or similar root, referring to a specific tree native to Sudan and other parts of Africa. The word traveled into English through trade and colonial contact with African regions.
Ambatch wood is so light and buoyant that traditional Nile boatmakers used it for rafts for thousands of years—it's one of the lightest woods in the world, and surprisingly, it's been used in modern life jackets and flotation devices because of this incredible property.
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