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car·da·mom (kärdə-məm) or car·da·mon (-mən)
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n.
1.
a. A rhizomatous herb (Elettaria cardamomum) native to South Asia, having capsular fruits with aromatic seeds used as a spice.
b. The capsules or seeds of this plant, used especially in South and Southeast Asian cuisine and in baked goods. In both subsenses, also called green cardamom.
2. Black cardamom.

[Middle English cardamome, from Old French cardemome, from Latin cardamōmum, from Greek kardamōmon, probably haplology for *kardamamōmom : kardamon, garden cress (of Near Eastern origin; akin to Akkadian kuddimmu, garden cress, whose seeds are used as a condiment and spice in Asian cuisines) + amōmon, an Indian spice, probably black cardamom; akin to Akkadian amīmu and Aramaic əmāmā, an aromatic, perhaps a kind of cardamom.]

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Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.