anil

American  

[an-l] / ˈæn l /

noun

1. a West Indian shrub, Indigofera suffruticosa, of the legume family, having elongated clusters of small, reddish-yellow flowers and yielding indigo.

2. indigo; deep blue.

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anil British  

/ ˈænɪl /

noun

1. Also called: indigo.  a leguminous West Indian shrub, Indigofera suffruticosa: a source of indigo

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Etymology

Origin of anil

1575–85; < Portuguese < Arabic an-nīl, equivalent to al the + nīl indigo < Sanskrit nīlī indigo ( nīl ( a ) dark blue + -ī feminine noun suffix)

Example Sentences

One already upgraded runway, on Car Nicobar island, was inaugurated in January by India's Chief of Defence Staff, Anil Chauhan.

From Barron's • May 18, 2026

Anil Jain, global managing director at Google Cloud, said that these tools can do both simple functions like tweaking a scene’s background, or achieve more complex tasks, like creating promotional material.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026

The neuroscientist Anil Seth says the brain is a “prediction machine,” and selfhood a useful hallucination.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

Gayatri Singh, wife of chief officer Anil Kumar Singh, accused Iran of using the crew as "human shields".

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026

Indigo, or Anil: culture and manufacture of. exportation of. early use of by the Mexicans. of Aragua. of Batabano. of Guainia. of Mijagual.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 by Humboldt, Alexander von