Plural of fustic; a hard yellowish wood from a tropical American tree, used for making dye and furniture.
From Spanish fustete, derived from Arabic fustuq, meaning pistachio. The wood was named by Spanish colonists in the Caribbean, confusing it with pistachio wood from the eastern Mediterranean.
Fustic wood produces a brilliant yellow dye that was used for centuries to color cloth, and it's so hard that woodworkers still prize it today—one of those everyday dyes that changed fashion history but nobody remembers anymore.
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