myrobalan
/mʌɪˈɹɒbələn/ noun
Forms myrobalans mirabolan mirobalan myrobalun myrabolam myrobolan myrobolane
- noun 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.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin myrobalanum, myrobalanus (“ben nut”), from Ancient Greek μυροβάλανος (murobálanos), from μύρον (múron, “perfume”) + βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A dried astringent fruit much resembling a prune. It contains tannin, and was formerly used in medicine, but is now chiefly used in tanning and dyeing. Myrobolans are produced by various species of Terminalia of the East Indies, and of Spondias of South America.
Etymology [L. myrobalanum the fruit of a palm tree from which a balsam was made, Gr. myrobolan.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “myrobalan”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details