anil

[an-l]

noun

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

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)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for anil

Contemporary Examples of anil

And there was in fact somebody who fainted—Anil Kumar, a former McKinsey & Co. executive vice president.
Charles Gasparino Details Insider-Trading Investigations in New Book, ‘Circle of Friends’
William O’Connor
July 3, 2013

Historical Examples of anil

Putting into Acapulco, they found a bark laden with cocoas and anil.
Notable Voyagers
W.H.G. Kingston and Henry Frith
Anil, an′il, n. a plant from whose leaves and stalks indigo is made.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)
Various

British Dictionary definitions for anil

anil

noun

a leguminous West Indian shrub, Indigofera suffruticosa: a source of indigoAlso called: indigo

Word Origin for anil

C16: from Portuguese, from Arabic an-nīl, the indigo, from Sanskrit nīla dark blue

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anil

West Indian shrub, 1580s, from French or Portuguese anil (see aniline).