banyan

or ban·ian

[ban-yuh n]

noun

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.

Also bania, baniya. (in India)

a Hindu trader or merchant of a particular caste, the rules of which forbid eating flesh.
a loose shirt, jacket, or gown.

Origin of banyan

1590–1600; < Portuguese (perhaps < Arabic) < 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

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

Examples from the Web for banyan

Contemporary Examples of banyan

Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, disagreed the acquisition was a desperate move.
Facebook’s ‘Desperate’ $19 Billion Gamble on WhatsApp
CNBC
February 20, 2014
It was aimed down here toward the banyan tree on December 28, 2009.
The Perils of Karachi
Steve Inskeep
October 14, 2011
The ambulance parked by the banyan tree had a word in red on the side, in English and Urdu: “Edhi.”
The Perils of Karachi
Steve Inskeep
October 14, 2011

Historical Examples of banyan

When He spread the wide shade of the banyan, He made a tent for the blacks.
The Hour and the Man
Harriet Martineau
I need not, therefore, describe the banyan very particularly.
The Plant Hunters
Mayne Reid
Others, like the banyan, are among the largest trees of the forest.
The Plant Hunters
Mayne Reid
Most of these belong to Banyan merchants in Maskat, and are manned by Indian sailors.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent
We tried also to get them to come to our Church under the shade of the banyan tree.
The Story of John G. Paton
James Paton

British Dictionary definitions for banyan

banyan

banian

noun

a moraceous tree, Ficus benghalensis, of tropical India and the East Indies, having aerial roots that grow down into the soil forming additional trunks

a member of the Hindu merchant caste of N and W India

a loose-fitting shirt, jacket, or robe, worn originally in India

Word Origin for banyan

C16: from Hindi baniyā, from Sanskrit vānija merchant

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 banyan

"Indian fig tree," 1630s, so called in reference to a tree on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf under which the Hindu merchants known as banians had built a pagoda. From Sanskrit vanija "merchant."