banyan
Americannoun
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Also called banyan tree. an East Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, of the mulberry family, having branches that send out adventitious roots to the ground and sometimes cause the tree to spread over a wide area.
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Also bania baniya (in India)
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a Hindu trader or merchant of a particular caste, the rules of which forbid eating flesh.
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a loose shirt, jacket, or gown.
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noun
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a moraceous tree, Ficus benghalensis , of tropical India and the East Indies, having aerial roots that grow down into the soil forming additional trunks
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a member of the Hindu merchant caste of N and W India
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a loose-fitting shirt, jacket, or robe, worn originally in India
Etymology
Origin of banyan
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Portuguese (perhaps from Arabic ), from Gujarati vāṇiyo (singular) or vāṇiyā (plural) member of the merchant caste (compare Prakrit vāṇiaya, Sanskrit vāṇija trader); the tree is said to have taken its name from a particular tree of the species near which merchants had built a booth; source of final nasal uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The city’s iconic banyan tree, damaged but recuperating, remains off-limits.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2024
The constant hum of sewing machines has been replaced by a chorus of birdsong and the stubborn roots of banyan trees have worked their way under the concrete skeletons of buildings.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2024
The Ryukyuan Pygmy Squid, Idiosepius kijimuna, is named after the short, red-haired forest fairies that are said to live in the banyan trees of Okinawa.
From Science Daily • Oct. 24, 2023
Many were recruited athletes, clad in T-shirts branded with the school’s new mascot, a muscled, flexing banyan tree.
From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2023
He stared out at a magnificent banyan tree along a route that Pérez’s driver took, and said softly, “I’ve worked for eighteen years in Haiti, and everything has gotten worse.”
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
