curcuma

[kur-kyoo-muh]

noun

any of various chiefly Old World plants belonging to the genus Curcuma, of the ginger family, as C. domestica, yielding turmeric, or C. zedoaria, yielding zedoary.

Origin of curcuma

1610–20; < New Latin < Arabic kurkum saffron, turmeric; cf. crocus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for curcuma

Historical Examples of curcuma

Titanite: Ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene, curcuma charcoal.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia
Various
Turmeric, the root of a plant called Curcuma longa, a native of the East Indies, used as a yellow dye.
A Treatise on Domestic Economy
Catherine Esther Beecher
Turmeric is the underground stem of the Curcuma tinctoria, the coloring principle being called curcumin.
Principles and Practice of Fur Dressing and Fur Dyeing
William E. Austin
Other changes of vegetables from climate or other causes are remarked in the note on Curcuma in the same work.
Evolution, Old & New
Samuel Butler
Turmeric is the underground stem or tuber of Curcuma tinctoria, a plant growing abundantly in the East Indies.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 8
Various

British Dictionary definitions for curcuma

curcuma

noun

any tropical Asian tuberous plant of the genus Curcuma, such as C. longa, which is the source of turmeric, and C. zedoaria, which is the source of zedoary: family Zingiberaceae

Word Origin for curcuma

C17: from New Latin, from Arabic kurkum turmeric

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