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cu·beb

(kybĕb′)

1. A tropical southeast Asian shrubby vine (Piper cubeba) having spicy, berrylike fruits, heart-shaped leaves, and small flowers in cylindrical spikes.

2. The dried, unripe, berrylike fruit of this plant, used in perfumery, pharmaceuticals, and commercial flavorings.

[Middle English cubebe, from Old French, from Medieval Latin cubēba, from Arabic dialectal kubāba, variant of Arabic kabāba.]

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.

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