mahua

American  

[mah-hwah] / ˈmɑ ʰwɑ /

Also mahwa,

noun

1. any of several trees of the genus Madhuca, of the sapodilla family, native to India, the Malay Peninsula, and southeastern Asia, especially M. latifolia, the flowers of which are used, fresh or dried, for food or are fermented to prepare an intoxicating drink.

---

Etymology

Origin of mahua

1680–90; < Hindi mahūā ≪ Sanskrit madhūka a tree name

Example Sentences

I raced down it, awed by the size and beauty of the great mahua trees around me, trunks 10 feet wide.

From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2022

Devari is a smattering of mud and brick homes amid a few miles of sugar cane and rice fields, children loitering about, cows and buffaloes lazing under mahua trees.

From New York Times • Jul. 31, 2020

Old saris laid on the ground help collect mahua flowers, a nutritional staple for many tribes in India, from beneath trees in this photo from Aditya Waikul.

From National Geographic • Oct. 21, 2015

Its muted palette of burnt wheat, ochre, cow-dung brown, and ash-gray is relieved only by the greenery from the rice paddies and the abundant tamarind, mahua, and sheesham trees.

From Newsweek • Aug. 6, 2013

After the marriage the bride and the bridegroom have a ceremony of throwing a mahua branch into a river together.

From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)