myrobalan

See also: myrobalán

English

Alternative forms

• mirabolan, mirobalan, myrobalun, myrabolam, myrobolan, myrobolane (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin myrobalanum, myrobalanus (“ben nut”), from Ancient Greek μυροβάλανος (murobálanos), from μύρον (múron, “perfume”) + βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mʌɪˈɹɒbələn/

Noun

myrobalan (plural myrobalans)

1. 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.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection ii:

     turbith, agaric, myrobolanes, hermodactyls, from the East Indies, tobacco from the West […].

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 180:

     Myrrh, sweet marjoram, and the plum-like myrobalan fruit were likewise usual ingredients of aromatic preparations.

Derived terms

• Arjun myrobalan (Terminalia arjuna)
• bastard myrobalan, beleric myrobalan (Terminalia bellirica)
• belleric myrobalan
• chebulic myrobalan, yellow myrobalan (Terminalia chebula)
• emblic myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica)
• myrobalan plum (Prunus cerasifera)

Translations

fruit from a tree of the genus Terminalia

• German: Myrobalane (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: μυροβάλανος m (murobálanos)

• Gujarati: હરડે f (harḍe)
• Latin: myrobalanum n, myrobalanus m
• Persian: هلیله (fa) (halile)
• Spanish: mirobálano m

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin myrobalanum, myrobalanus.

Noun

myrobalan m (plural myrobalans)

1. alternative form of myrobolan

References

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