myrobalan

English

Alternative forms

• myrobolan, myrobolane [17th c.]

Etymology

From Middle French mirabolan, and its source, Latin myrobalanum (“ben nut”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek μυροβάλανος, from μύρον + βάλανος (“acorn; date”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /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.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.4.1.ii:

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