tamarind
/ˈtæməɹɪnd/ noun
Forms tamarinds
- noun (botany) A tropical tree, Tamarindus indica.
- noun (cooking) The fruit of this tree; the pulp is used as spice in Asian cooking and in Worcestershire sauce.
- noun Diploglottis australis, native tamarind, a rainforest tree of Eastern Australia.
- noun Garcinia gummi-gutta, Malabar tamarind, native to Indonesia.
- noun A velvet tamarind (Dialium spp.).
- noun A dark brown color, like that of tamarind pulp (also called tamarind brown).
Synonyms
Etymology
From Late Middle English thamarynde, from Old French tamarinde, from Medieval Latin tamarindus, from Arabic تَمْر هِنْدِيّ (tamr hindiyy, literally “Indian date”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A leguminous tree (Tamarindus Indica) cultivated both the Indies, and the other tropical countries, for the sake of its shade, and for its fruit. The trunk of the tree is lofty and large, with wide-spreading branches; the flowers are in racemes at the ends of the branches. The leaves are small and finely pinnated.
- noun One of the preserved seed pods of the tamarind, which contain an acid pulp, and are used medicinally and for preparing a pleasant drink. Tamarind fish, a preparation of a variety of East Indian fish with the acid pulp of the tamarind fruit.
Etymology [It. tamarindo, or Sp. tamarindo, or Pg. tamarindo, tamarinho, from Ar. tamarhindi, literally, Indian date; tamar a dried date + Hind India: cf. F. tamarin. Cf. Hindoo.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tamarind”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details