turmeric

English

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Processed turmeric rhizomes

Alternative forms

• tumeric (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed)

Etymology

From Middle English turmeryte, tarmaret, of uncertain origin. Possibly corrupted from Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “Curcuma”) or from Old French terre mérite (“deserving earth”), potentially as a folk etymology of the Arabic.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɝ.mɚ.ɪk/, [ˈtʰɝ.mɚ.ɪk], (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) /ˈtuː.mə.ɹɪk/, [ˈtʰu.mɚ.ɪk]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜː.m(ə).ɹɪk/, (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) /ˈtjuː.m(ə).ɹɪk/, /ˈtʃuː.m(ə).ɹɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /təɹˈmɛ.ɾɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)məɹɪk, -uːməɹɪk, -ɜː(ɹ)mɹɪk, -uːmɹɪk

Noun

turmeric (countable and uncountable, plural turmerics)

1. (botany) An Indian plant (Curcuma longa), with aromatic rhizomes, part of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
3. (cooking) The pulverized rhizome of the turmeric plant, used for flavoring and to add a bright yellow color to food.

   Synonym: haldi

4. A yellow to reddish-brown dye extracted from the turmeric plant.

   Synonym: E100

   turmeric:  

Derived terms

• turmeric acid
• turmeric paper
• turmeric root
• white turmeric
• wild turmeric

Translations

plant

• Arabic: كُرْكُم (ar) m (kurkum)

  Hijazi Arabic: كُرْكُم m (kurkum)

• Armenian:

  Middle Armenian: դեղնախունկ (deġnaxunk)

• Assamese: হালধি গছ (halodhi gos)
• Bikol Central: kalawag (bcl)
• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 薑黃 / 姜黄 (zh) (jiānghuáng)

• Danish: gurkemeje c
• Dutch: kurkuma
• Fijian: cago, lelega
• Finnish: maustekurkuma
• French: curcuma (fr) m
• German: Kurkuma (de), Gelbwurz f
• Greek: κουρκουμάς (el) m (kourkoumás)
• Gujarati: હળદર f (haḷdar)
• Hawaiian: ʻōlena, lena
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Javanese: kunir (jv), kunyit (jv)
• Korean: 강황(薑黃) (ganghwang)
• Macedonian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Maori: renga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gurkemeie m

• Okinawan: 鬱金 (うっちん, ucchin)
• Palauan: kesol
• Persian: زردچوبه (fa) (zardčube), زرچوبه (zarčube)
• Polish: kurkuma (pl) f
• Portuguese: cúrcuma f, açafrão-da-índia m, açafrão-das-índias m
• Romanian: zerdiceaf (ro) m
• Russian: курку́ма (ru) f (kurkúma), жёлтый ко́рень m (žóltyj kórenʹ), желтя́к (ru) m (želtják)
• Samoan: lega, ago
• Slovene: kurkuma f
• Spanish: cúrcuma (es) f, palillo (es) m, yuquilla f, camotillo m
• Swahili: njano
• Swedish: gurkmeja (sv)
• Tagalog: luyang-dilaw
• Tahitian: reʻa, reʻa māʻohi
• Tamil: மஞ்சள் (ta) (mañcaḷ)
• Thai: ขมิ้น (th) (kà-mîn)
• Tongan: ango
• Turkish: zerdeçal (tr)
• Vietnamese: nghệ (vi)
• Welsh: tyrmerig m
• Yoruba: àjó, yéyémùyé

spice

• Afrikaans: borrie
• Arabic: كُرْكُم (ar) m (kurkum)

  Egyptian Arabic: كركم m (kurkum)

  Moroccan Arabic: خرقوم (ḵarqūm)

• Assamese: হালধি (halodhi)
• Azerbaijani: sarıkök, kurkuma
• Bengali: হলুদ (bn) (holud)
• Bikol Central: kalawag (bcl)
• Brunei Malay: kunyit
• Bulgarian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Burmese: နနွင်း (my) (na.nwang:)
• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Cebuano: dulaw
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黃薑 / 黄姜 (wong⁴ goeng¹)

  Hokkien: 薑黃 / 姜黄 (kiuⁿ-n̂g)

  Mandarin: 薑黃 / 姜黄 (zh) (jiānghuáng)

• Czech: kurkuma f, japonský šafrán m
• Danish: gurkemeje c
• Dhivehi: ރީނދޫ (rīⁿdū)
• Dutch: koenjit (nl) m or f, kurkuma (nl) m
• Esperanto: kurkumo
• Finnish: kurkuma (fi)
• French: curcuma (fr) m
• German: Gelbwurz f, Kurkuma (de) f, Kurkume (de) f
• Greek: κουρκούμη (el) f (kourkoúmi)
• Gujarati: હળદર f (haḷdar)
• Hebrew: כורכום (he) m (kurkum)
• Hindi: हल्दी (hi) (haldī)
• Hungarian: kurkuma (hu)
• Icelandic: túrmerik n
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Irish: tuirmiric f
• Italian: curcuma (it) f
• Japanese: 鬱金 (ja) (うこん, ukon), ウコン (ja) (ukon)
• Khmer: រមៀត (km) (rɔmiet)
• Korean: 강황 (ganghwang)
• Lao: ຂີ້ໝິ້ນ (khī min), ຂມິ້ນ (kha min)
• Lithuanian: dažinė ciberžolė
• Low German:

  East Frisian Low Saxon: spiiskruud n

• Macedonian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Malayalam: മഞ്ഞൾ (ml) (maññaḷ)
• Marathi: हळद f (haḷad)
• Nepali: बेसार (ne) (besār)
• Norwegian: gurkemeie
• Persian: زردچوبه (fa) (zardčube), زرچوبه (zarčube)
• Polish: kurkuma (pl) f
• Portuguese: curcuma f, açafrão-da-índia m, açafrão-das-índias m, açafrão-da-terra (pt)
• Punjabi: ਹਲਦੀ (haldī)
• Romanian: zerdiceaf (ro) m, curcumă f
• Russian: курку́ма (ru) f (kurkúma), жёлтый ко́рень m (žóltyj kórenʹ), желтя́к (ru) m (želtják)
• Sinhalese: කහ (si) (kaha)
• Slovene: kurkuma f
• Spanish: cúrcuma (es) f, palillo (es) m
• Swahili: manjano (sw)
• Swedish: gurkmeja (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠀꠟꠗꠤ (alodí), ꠅꠟꠂꠖ (oloido)
• Tagalog: luyang-dilaw
• Tamil: மஞ்சள் (ta) (mañcaḷ)
• Tausug: dulaw
• Telugu: పసుపు (te) (pasupu)
• Tetum: kunir
• Thai: ขมิ้น (th) (kà-mîn)
• Turkish: zerdeçal (tr)
• Venetan: cùrcuma (vec) f
• Vietnamese: củ nghệ
• Welsh: tyrmerig m
• Yoruba: àjó, ata ilẹ̀ pupa

dye

• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Dutch: kurkuma (nl), koenjit (nl)
• Finnish: kurkumiini
• French: curcumine (fr) f
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Italian: curcumina (it) f
• Low German: Kunkelmei n (Holsteinisch)
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Russian: курку́мин (ru) m (kurkúmin)

See also

• curcumin
• golden
• kunyit
• haldi

References

• “termerite, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 25 July 2018.
• Klein, Dr. Ernest (1966-1967), “turmeric”, in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary Of The English Language‎^[1], eighth impression, Amsterdam: Elsevier, published 2003, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 789, column 1.

Further reading

• “turmeric”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• turmeric on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Curcuma longa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies