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asarum

[as-er-uh m]
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noun Chemistry.
  1. the dried rhizome and roots of wild ginger that yield an acrid resin and a volatile, aromatic oil, used chiefly as a flavoring.
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Origin of asarum

< Latin < Greek ásaron hazelwort, wild spikenard
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for asarum

Historical Examples

  • True ginger must not be confounded with "wild ginger," which is a small herbaceous plant (Asarum canadense) of the United States.

    Birds and all Nature, Vol. V, No. 2, February 1899

    Various

  • The long, slender rhizomes of Asarum have a pungent, aromatic taste similar to ginger.

  • It also feeds upon wild ginger or Asarum and probably upon other plants.

British Dictionary definitions for asarum

asarum

noun
  1. the dried strong-scented root of the wild ginger plant: a flavouring agent and source of an aromatic oil used in perfumery, formerly used in medicine
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Word Origin

C19: via New Latin from Latin: hazelwort, from Greek asaron
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