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.

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Etymology

Origin of mahua

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

Example Sentences

Mr. Vazifdar clicked his light back on and pointed out bright orange crabs scurrying up the trunks of the giant mahua trees, and lizards hiding in the saw-toothed pandanus bushes.

From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2022

About half a mile from Amrit’s home in Devari, the Dalit graveyard is a single acre of land lush with wild grass and shaded by 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)