banyan

See also: banyán and bànyǎn

English

WOTD – 23 February 2009

Ficus benghalensis

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• banian, bannian

Etymology

From Portuguese baniano, from Arabic بَنِيَان (baniyān), from Gujarati વાણિયો (vāṇiyo, “merchant”), from Sanskrit वाणिज (vāṇijá), from earlier वणिज् (vaṇíj, “merchant, trader”). The name appears to have been first bestowed popularly on a famous tree of this species growing near Bandar Abbas, under which the Bannians or Hindu traders settled at that port, had built a little pagoda. Doublet of bunnia.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæn.jæn/, /ˈbæn.jən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ænjən
• Hyphenation: ban‧yan

Noun

banyan (plural banyans)

1. An Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
2. A tropical Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, that has many aerial roots.
   • 1914, Teresa Frances, William Rose Benét, The East I Know, translation of original by Paul Claudel, page 33:

     We climb and then descend; we pass by the great banyan which, like Atlas, settling himself powerfully on his contorted haunches, seems awaiting with knee and shoulder the burden of the sky.

3. Various other trees of the Ficus subgenus Urostigma, especially Ficus pertusa (Central American banyan) and Ficus microcarpa (Chinese banyan or Malayan banyan).
4. A type of loose gown worn in India.
5. (India, Pakistan) A vest; an undershirt; a singlet.
6. (British, naval slang, dated) A camping excursion on shore, to give a ship's crew a break from shipboard routine.

Synonyms

• (tropical Indian fig tree): banyan tree

Derived terms

• banyan day
• banyan fight

 

Translations

Indian trader, merchant

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 印度商人 (Yìndù shāngrén)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: intialainen kaupustelija
• French: commerçant indien m, banian (fr) m
• Portuguese: baniano m, baniane m
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swahili: baniani

tropical South Asian fig tree

• Bislama: nabanga
• Catalan: banià m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 榕 (zh) (róng), 榕樹／榕树 (zh) (róngshù)

• Czech: banyán m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dhivehi: ނިކަ (nika)
• Dutch: banyan m, wurgvijg f
• Finnish: banianviikuna, banian
• French: banian (fr) m
• Gujarati: વડ (gu) m (vaḍ)
• Hindi: बरगत m (bargat), बरगद (hi) m (bargad), बड़ (hi) m (baṛ), बट (hi) m (baṭ), वट (hi) m (vaṭ)
• Hungarian: indiai füge
• Ilocano: balete
• Indonesian: beringin (id) c
• Ivatan: vaditi
• Kannada: ಆಲದ (ālada)
• Kapampangan: baliti
• Korean: 반얀 (banyan)
• Lao: ໂພ (phō)
• Malagasy: monoko (mg)
• Malay: jejawi
• Malayalam: പേരാൽ (pērāl)
• Marathi: वड m (vaḍ)
• Odia: ବରଗଛ (baragacha)
• Polish: banian (pl) m, figowiec bengalski m
• Portuguese: figueira-de-bengala f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਬੋਹੜ (pa) m (bohaṛ)

  Shahmukhi: بوڑھ m (boṛh), بوہَڑ m (bohaṛ)

• Romanian: banian (ro) m
• Russian: банья́н (ru) m (banʹján), баниа́н (ru) m (banián)
• Sanskrit: वट (sa) (vaṭa), न्यग्रोध (sa) m (nyagrodha)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бањан m

  Roman: banjan m

• Spanish: baniano (es) m
• Tagalog: balete, balite, baliti
• Tamil: ஆலமரம் (ta) (ālamaram), ஆல் (ta) (āl)
• Telugu: మర్రి (te) (marri)
• Thai: ไทร (th) (sai)
• Tocharian B: nigrot
• Tày: bả, lùng
• Urdu: برگد m (bargad), برگت m (bargat), بڑ m (baṛ), بٹ m (baṭ), وٹ m (vaṭ)
• Vietnamese: đa (vi)

type of loose gown worn in India

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 睡袍 (shuìpáo), 晨衣 (zh) (chényī)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: banyan
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: baniana f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• Banyan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Banyan in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)