cumin

English

Cumin (spice): whole seeds, left; ground into powder, right.

Etymology

From Middle English comyn, from Old English cymen (which is cognate with Old High German kumin) and Old French cummin, both from Latin cuminum, from Ancient Greek κύμινον (kúminon), a Semitic borrowing ultimately to be traced to Akkadian 𒂵𒈬𒉡 (Ú.GAMUN /⁠kamūnu⁠/, “cumin”). Possibly related to caraway.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkjuːmɪn/, /ˈkʌmɪn/, enPR: kyo͞oʹmĭn, kŭmʹĭn

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkumɪn/, /ˈkjumɪn/, /ˈkʌmɪn/, /ˈkʊmɪn/, enPR: ko͞oʹmĭn

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkumɪn/:

    (file)

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkumɪn/:

    (file)

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkjumɪn/:

    (file)

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkʌmɪn/:

    (file)

  • Audio (General American); /ˈkʊmɪn/:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmɪn, -uːmɪn

Noun

cumin (usually uncountable, plural cumins)

1. The flowering plant Cuminum cyminum, in the family Apiaceae.

   Cumin is native to the region from the eastern Mediterranean to India.

3. Its aromatic long seed, used as a spice, notably in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Mexican cookery.

   Coordinate term: caraway

   • 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 269:

     Cumin was often an ingredient of such love potions since it produced the effect of retention in whoever ate it.

Derived terms

• black cumin
• cuminic
• cuminol
• cuminseed
• Persian cumin

Translations

plant Cuminum cyminum

• Arabic: كَمُّون m (kammūn)

  Egyptian Arabic: كمون m (kammūn)

  Moroccan Arabic: كمون (kamūn)

• Armenian: քիմիոն (hy) (kʻimion), չաման (hy) (čʻaman)
• Bulgarian: кимион (bg) m (kimion)
• Burmese: ဇီရာ (my) (jira)
• Catalan: comí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 孜然 (zh) (zīrán), 安息茴香 (zh) (ānxī huíxiāng), 阿拉伯茴香 (zh) (Ālābó huíxiāng)

• Coptic:

  Bohairic Coptic: ⲑⲁⲡⲉⲛ (thapen)

  Sahidic Coptic: ⲧⲁⲡⲉⲛ (tapen), ⲧⲁⲡⲛ (tapn)

• Czech: římský kmín m
• Danish: spidskommen c
• Dutch: komijn (nl) m, kummel (nl) m
• Egyptian: (tpnn)
• Esperanto: kumino
• Finnish: roomankumina (fi), juustokumina (fi)
• French: cumin (fr) m
• Galician: comiño (gl) m
• Georgian: ძირა (ʒira), კვლიავი (ḳvliavi), ზირა (zira)
• German: Kümmel (de) m, Kreuzkümmel (de) m
• Greek: κύμινο (el) n (kýmino)

  Ancient Greek: κύμινον n (kúminon)

  Mycenaean Greek: 𐀓𐀖𐀜 (ku-mi-no)

• Hebrew: כמון (he) m (kamon)
• Hindi: ज़ीरा (zīrā), जीरा (hi) (jīrā)
• Hungarian: kömény (hu), római kömény (hu)
• Ido: kumino (io)
• Indonesian: jintan putih (id)
• Italian: cumino (it) m
• Japanese: クミン (ja) (kumin), ヒメウイキョウ (himeikyō)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 커민 (keomin)
• Latin: cumīnum n
• Malay: jintan putih (ms)
• Maltese: kemmun m
• Māori: kumine
• Marathi: जिरे n (jire)
• Mongolian: гоньд (mn) (gonʹd)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spisskummen m, spisskarve m (rare)

• Persian: زیره (fa) (zire)
• Polish: kmin rzymski (pl) m
• Portuguese: cominho m
• Romanian: chimion (ro) m
• Russian: зи́ра (ru) f (zíra), кмин (ru) m (kmin)
• Sicilian: ciminu (scn) m
• Spanish: comino (es) m
• Swahili: mjira
• Swedish: kummin (sv) n, spiskummin (sv) n
• Tagalog: komino
• Tamil: சீரகம் (ta) (cīrakam)
• Thai: เทียนขาว (tian kăao)
• Turkish: kimyon (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: كمیون (kimyon)

• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: thì là Ai Cập
• Volapük: komenaplan
• Yiddish: קמיניק m (kminik)

its seed used as spice

• Afrikaans: komyn, jeera
• Arabic: كَمُّون m (kammūn)

  Egyptian Arabic: كمون m (kammūn)

  Moroccan Arabic: كمون (kamūn)

• Aramaic:

  Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܟܡܘܢܐ m

  Classical Mandaic: ࡊࡀࡌࡅࡍࡀ m (kamuna)

  Classical Syriac: ܟܲܡܘܼܢܵܐ m (kammūnāʾ)

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: כַּמּוֹנָא m (kammōnāʾ), כְּמוֹנָא m (kəmōnāʾ)

  Jewish Literary Aramaic: כַּמּוּנָא m (kammūnāʾ)

  Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: כמונא m

• Armenian: քիմիոն (hy) (kʻimion), չաման (hy) (čʻaman)
• Bengali: জিরা (bn) (jira)
• Bulgarian: кимион (bg) m (kimion)
• Burmese: ဇီရာစေ့ (jirace.)
• Catalan: comí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 孜然 (zh) (zīrán), 安息茴香 (zh) (ānxī huíxiāng), 阿拉伯茴香 (zh) (Ālābó huíxiāng)

• Coptic:

  Bohairic Coptic: ⲑⲁⲡⲉⲛ (thapen)

  Sahidic Coptic: ⲧⲁⲡⲉⲛ (tapen), ⲧⲁⲡⲛ (tapn)

• Czech: římský kmín m
• Danish: spidskommen c
• Dutch: komijn (nl) m, komijnzaad (nl) n, kummel (nl) m, djinten, djiera (Suriname)
• Egyptian: (tpnn)
• Finnish: juustokumina (fi), jeera (fi)
• French: cumin (fr) m
• Galician: comiño (gl) m
• Georgian: კვლიავი (ḳvliavi), ძირა (ʒira), ზირა (zira)
• German: Kreuzkümmel (de) m
• Greek: κύμινο (el) n (kýmino)

  Ancient Greek: κύμινον n (kúminon)

  Mycenaean Greek: 𐀓𐀖𐀜 (ku-mi-no)

• Gujarati: જીરું n (jīrũ)
• Hawaiian: kumino
• Hebrew: כַמּוֹן (he) m (kamón, kammon)
• Hindi: ज़ीरा (zīrā), जीरा (hi) (jīrā)
• Hungarian: római kömény (hu)
• Icelandic: broddkúmen n
• Italian: cumino (it) m
• Japanese: クミンの実 (kumin no mi)
• Kannada: ಜೀರಿಗೆ (kn) (jīrige)
• Latin: cumīnum n
• Malayalam: ജീരകം (ml) (jīrakaṁ)
• Marathi: जिरे n (jire)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spisskummen m, spisskarve m (rare)

• Persian: زیره (fa) (zire)
• Phoenician: 𐤊𐤌𐤍 m (kmn)
• Polish: kminek (pl) m
• Portuguese: cominho m
• Punic: 𐤊𐤌𐤍 m (kmn)
• Punjabi: ਜੀਰਾ m (jīrā)
• Romanian: chimion (ro) m
• Russian: зи́ра (ru) f (zíra)
• Sanskrit: दृता (sa) (dṛtā), जीरक (sa) (jīraka), दीर्घजीरक (sa) (dīrghajīraka), वह्निसख (sa) (vahnisakha), जिरण (sa) (jiraṇa), अजाजि (sa) (ajāji)
• Sinhalese: සූදුරු (si) (sūduru)
• Slovak: rímska rasca f
• Spanish: comino (es) m
• Swahili: jira class 9/10
• Swedish: spiskummin (sv) n
• Tagalog: komino
• Tamil: சீரகம் (ta) (cīrakam)
• Thai: ยี่หร่า (yîi ràa)
• Tibetan: གོ་སྙོད (go snyod)
• Tocharian B: ayājñi
• Turkish: kimyon (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: كمیون (kimyon)

• Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎎𐎐 (kmn)
• Uyghur: زىرە (zire)
• Vietnamese: cây thì là
• Welsh: cwmin m
• Yiddish: קמיניק m (kminik)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} ким (kim)
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} சீரகம் (ta) (cīrakam)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kimyon (tr)

See also

• ground

Anagrams

• Numic, mucin

French

Etymology

From Latin cuminum, from Ancient Greek κύμινον (kúminon), itself of Semitic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ky.mɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

cumin m (plural cumins)

1. the plant cumin
2. Its seed, a spice

Further reading

• “cumin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romansh

Alternative forms

• cumün (Vallader)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin commūnia, neuter plural of Latin commūnis.

Noun

cumin m (plural cumins)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun) village

Synonyms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Surmiran) vischnanca
• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan) vitg