shea

name

1. A surname from Irish.
2. A unisex given name transferred from the surname.

noun

1. A tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) indigenous to Africa, occurring in Mali, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Togo, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Uganda.

   “The people were every where employed in collecting the fruit of the Shea trees, from which they prepare the vegetable butter mentioned in former parts of this work. […] They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods; and, in clearing wood land for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the Shea.”

2. The fruit of this tree, having a thin, tart, nutritious pulp that surrounds a relatively large, oil-rich seed.