myrobalan

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle French mirabolan, and its source, Latin myrobalanum (ben nut), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek μυροβάλανος (murobálanos), from μύρον (múron) + βάλανος (bálanos, acorn; date).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /mʌɪˈɹɒbələn/

Noun

myrobalan (plural myrobalans)

  1. A plum-like fruit from various trees of the genus Terminalia, formerly used in medicine and now in the dyeing industry; also, the tree itself.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection ii:
      turbith, agaric, myrobolanes, hermodactyls, from the East Indies, tobacco from the West [].

Derived terms

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