Etymology
Brasil
Todo crece,
los árboles,
el agua,
los insectos,
el día.
Todo termina en hoja
Pablo Neruda

Named after the brazilwood tree, so-named because its reddish wood resembled the color of red-hot embers (brasil in Portuguese). In Tupi it is called "ibirapitanga", which means literally 'red wood'. The wood of the tree was used to color clothes and fabrics.
When Portuguese explorers found these trees of a deep red hue inside on the coast of South America, they used the name pau-brasil to describe them. Pau is Portuguese for "wood", and brasil is said to have come from brasa, Portuguese for "ember". This name had been earlier used to describe a different species of tree which was found in Asia and other places and which also produced red dye; but the South American trees soon became the better source of red dye. Brazilwood trees were such a large part of the exports and economy of the land that the country which sprang up in that part of the world took its name from them and is now called Brazil.