myrobalan

• myrobalun, myrobolan, myrobolane [17th c.]

From Middle French mirabolan, and its source, Latin myrobalanum (“ben nut”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek μυροβάλανος (murobálanos), from μύρον (múron) + βάλανος (bálanos, “acorn; date”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mʌɪˈɹɒbələn/

myrobalan (plural myrobalans)

1. A plum-like fruit from various trees of the genus Terminalia, formerly used in medicine and now in the dyeing industry; also, the tree itself.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection ii:

     turbith, agaric, myrobolanes, hermodactyls, from the East Indies, tobacco from the West […].

• myrobalan plum (Prunus cerasifera)
• emblic myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica)
• bastard myrobalan, beleric myrobalan (Terminalia bellirica)
• chebulic myrobalan, yellow myrobalan (Terminalia chebula)
• Arjun myrobalan (Terminalia arjuna)