banyan
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/BanyanFuzhou.jpg)
Alternative forms
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Portuguese baniano, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic بَنِيَان (baniyān), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Gujarati વાણિયો (vāṇiyo, “merchant”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Sanskrit वाणिज (vāṇijá), from earlier वणिज् (vaṇíj, “merchant, trader”). The name appears to have been first bestowed popularly on a famous tree of this species growing near Bandar Abbas, under which the Bannians or Hindu traders settled at that port, had built a little pagoda.[1]
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 333: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈbæn.jən/
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
banyan (plural banyans)
- An Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
- A tropical Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, that has many aerial roots.
- 1914, Teresa Frances & William Rose Benét, The East I Know, translation of original by Paul Claudel, page 33:
- We climb and then descend; we pass by the great banyan which, like Atlas, settling himself powerfully on his contorted haunches, seems awaiting with knee and shoulder the burden of the sky.
- A type of loose gown worn in India.
- (India) A vest; an undershirt; a singlet.
- (British, Naval slang, dated) A camping excursion on shore, to give a ship's crew a break from shipboard routine.
Synonyms
- (tropical Indian fig tree): banyan tree
Translations
Indian trader, merchant
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tropical Indian fig tree
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type of loose gown worn in India
See also
Banyan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Template:Wikisource1911Enc Citation
References
Categories:
- English terms derived from Portuguese
- English terms derived from Arabic
- English terms derived from Gujarati
- English terms derived from Sanskrit
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- Indian English
- British English
- English dated terms
- en:Fig trees
- en:People