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pun·ji stick (pnjē, pŭn-)
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n.
A very sharp bamboo stake that is concealed at an angle in high grass, in a hole, or in deep mud, often coated with excrement, and planted to wound and infect the feet of enemy soldiers. Also called punji stake.
[Earlier panjee, panja, first attested in mid-19th century British accounts of eastern India and northern Burma and probably a borrowing of a compound in a Tibeto-Burman language of the region : pun-, possibly “wood”; compare Jingpo (Tibeto-Burman language of northern Burma) phun, wood, stalk (akin to Mandarin běn, root, main stem, and Tibetan sbun, spun, stalk) + -ji, possibly “thorn, punji stick”; compare Jingpo dźu, thorn, and Meitei (Tibeto-Burman language of Manipur) seu, punji stick (perhaps akin to Tibetan mtshon, pointed tool, forefinger).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

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