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tam·a·rind (tămə-rĭnd)
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n.
1. A tropical evergreen tree (Tamarindus indica) of the pea family, native to Africa and widely cultivated as an ornamental and for its pods, which contain small seeds embedded in a sticky edible pulp.
2.
a. The fruit of this tree.
b. Syrup prepared from the pulp of this fruit.

[Middle English tamarinde, ultimately (via Medieval Latin tamarindus and Old French tamarinde) from Arabic tamr hindī, tamarind (literally, "Indian dates," tamarind being so called because medieval Arabian merchants imported it from India) : tamr, dates; see tmr in the Appendix of Semitic roots + hindī, of India (from Hind, India, from Persian; see HINDI).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

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.