banyan

See also: banyán and bànyǎn

English

WOTD – 23 February 2009

Ficus benghalensis

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• banian, bannian

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.jən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

banyan (plural banyans)

1. An Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
2. 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.

3. A type of loose gown worn in India.
4. (India) A vest; an undershirt; a singlet.
5. (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

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 印度商人 (Yìndù shāngrén)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: intialainen kaupustelija
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: baniano m, baniane m
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swahili: baniani

tropical Indian fig tree

• Catalan: banià m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 榕 (zh) (róng), 榕樹／榕树 (zh) (róngshù), 榕树 (zh) (róngshù)

• Czech: banyán m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dhivehi: ބަންޔަން (ban̊yan̊)
• Finnish: banianviikuna, banian
• French: banian (fr) m
• Gujarati: વડ (gu) m (vaḍ)
• Hindi: बरगत m (bargat), बरगद (hi) m (bargad), बड़ (hi) m (baṛ), बट (hi) m (baṭ), वट (hi) m (vaṭ)
• Hungarian: indiai füge
• Indonesian: beringin (id) c
• Kannada: ಆಲದ (ālada)
• Korean: 반얀 (banyan)
• Lao: ໂພ (phō)
• Malagasy: monoko (mg)
• Malay: jejawi
• Malayalam: ആൽമരം (ālmaraṁ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Marathi: वड m (vaḍ)
• Oriya: ବରଗଛ (baragacha)
• Polish: banian (pl) m, figowiec bengalski m
• Portuguese: figueira-de-bengala f
• Punjabi: ਬੋਹੜ (pa) (bohaṛ)
• Romanian: banian (ro) m
• Russian: банья́н (ru) m (banʹján), баниа́н (ru) m (banián)
• Sanskrit: वट (sa) (vaṭa), न्यग्रोध (sa) m (nyagrodha)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бањан m

  Roman: banjan m

• Spanish: baniano (es) m
• Tagalog: balete, balite, baliti
• Tamil: ஆலமரம் (ta) (ālamaram), ஆல் (ta) (āl)
• Telugu: మర్రి (te) (marri)
• Thai: ไทร (th) (sai)
• Urdu: برگت m (bargat), برگد m (bargad), بڑ m (baṛ), بٹ m (baṭ), وٹ m (vaṭ)
• Vietnamese: đa (vi)

type of loose gown worn in India

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 睡袍 (shuìpáo), 晨衣 (chényī)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: banyan
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: baniana f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• Banyan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Template:Wikisource1911Enc Citation