Ebony

[eb-uh-nee] /ˈɛb ə ni/

noun, plural ebonies.
1.
a hard, heavy, durable wood, most highly prized when black, from various tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, as D. ebenum of southern India and Sri Lanka, used for cabinetwork, ornamental objects, etc.
2.
any tree yielding such wood.
3.
any of various similar woods or trees.
4.
a deep, lustrous black.
adjective
5.
Also, ebon. made of ebony.
6.
of a deep, lustrous black.
/ˈɛbənɪ/
noun (pl) -onies
1.
any of various tropical and subtropical trees of the genus Diospyros, esp D. ebenum of S India, that have hard dark wood: family Ebenaceae See also persimmon
2.
the wood of such a tree, much used for cabinetwork
3.

n.

1590s, from hebenyf (late 14c.), perhaps a Middle English misreading of Latin hebeninus “of ebony,” from Greek ebeninos, from ebenos “ebony,” probably from Egyptian hbnj or another Semitic source. Figurative use to suggest intense blackness is from 1620s. As an adjective, from 1590s. French ébène, Old High German ebenus (German Ebenholz) are from Latin ebenus.

a black, hard wood, brought by the merchants from India to Tyre (Ezek. 27:15). It is the heart-wood, brought by Diospyros ebenus, which grows in Ceylon and Southern India.