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

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

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

That was about to change, she wrote, with the opening of a the "Khajuraho Motel, the first hostelry expressly for automobile drivers in this land of richly carved temples and mahua trees."

From New York Times • Jan. 10, 2013

They think that this worship and dance will cause the karma tree, the mango, the jack-fruit and the mahua to bear a full crop of fruit.

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