areca

American  

[uh-ree-kuh, ar-i-] / əˈri kə, ˈær ɪ- /

noun

1. any tropical Asian palm of the genus Areca, as the betel palm.

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areca British  

/ ˈærɪkə, əˈriːkə /

noun

1. any of various tall palms of the genus Areca, which are native to SE Asia and have white flowers and orange or red egg-shaped nuts

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Etymology

Origin of areca

First recorded in 1500–10; from New Latin (earlier English spellings reflect Portuguese or French ); all ultimately from Malayalam aṭaykka

Example Sentences

But betel chew—a mixture of areca nuts, betel leaves and slaked lime—is entirely different from datura.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

Lalthanpuii, a Mizo villager, said she left behind her entire crop of areca nuts after Assam police and villagers stormed her settlement on 10 July.

From BBC • Aug. 8, 2021

His representatives around the country bought spices, which Ishana shipped overseas: areca nuts to the Maldives, and pepper, cloves, nutmeg and mace to India.

From New York Times • Jul. 2, 2020

I dropped the needle on Mort Garson’s album Mother Earth’s Plantasia, and set about watering my areca palms and orchids and my string-of-pearls and lipstick plants.

From The Guardian • May 20, 2019

This set them on the wide path that led into the spacious circular compound of cobbled ground under the spreading areca nut tree, ringed with the houses of the village elders.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook