sorghum

See also: Sorghum

English

Alternative forms

sorgum, sourgum

Etymology

From New Latin genus name Sorghum, from Italian sorgo, from Vulgar Latin *syricum (“Syrian”), from Sȳricus. Doublet of the synonyms sorgho (via French) and sorgo (via Italian).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsɔ(ɹ).ɡəm/
Audio (US): (file)

Noun

sorghum (countable and uncountable, plural sorghums)

A cereal, Sorghum genus and species, the grains of which are cultivated to make flour and feed cattle. Almost all cultivated ones as well as some wild ones belong to the species Sorghum bicolor (syn. Sorghum vulgare).
Hypernym: millet
- 1936, Harry Nelson Vinall, Joseph Charlworth Stephens, John Holmes Martin, Identification, History, and Distribution of Common Sorghum Varieties, US Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin No. 506, page 2,
  The sorghum crop has four uses — forage, grain, sirup, and industrial (such as the manufacture of brooms, wallboard, etc.).
- 1978, US Department of Agriculture, Watch out for witchweed, a serious pest of corn, sorghum, and other crops, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Program Number 1212, unnumbered page,
  Witchweed (Striga spp.) is a parasitic plant that attacks corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, and more than 60 different species of the grass family.
- 2008, Lamissa Diakité, Amadou Sidibé, Melinda Smale, Mikkel Grum, Seed Value Chains for Sorghum and Millet in Mali: A State-based System in Transition, International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper 00749, page 2,
  Archaeological evidence suggests that economies based on cattle, goats, sorghum, and pearl millet were established in this region between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago (Smith 1998).
(Southern US) Sorghum syrup.

Synonyms

(cereal): guinea corn (West Africa); kafir corn (South Africa); mtama (East Africa); durra (Sudan); juar, jowar, cholam (India); kaoliang (China); milo (United States); feterita (Sudan)

Coordinate terms

(Cereals) cereal; barley, fonio, maize/corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, teff, triticale, wheat

Derived terms

Related terms

sorgolactone

Translations

cereal

Amharic: ማሽላ (mašəlla)
Arabic: ذُرَة f (ḏura), سرغوم m
Armenian: սորգո (hy) (sorgo)
Assamese: জোৱাৰ (züar)
Bulgarian: со́рго n (sórgo), двуцветно просо n (dvucvetno proso)
Catalan: melca (ca) f, sorgo m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 高粱 (gou¹ loeng⁴), 高粱粟 (gou¹ loeng⁴ suk¹)

Mandarin: 高粱 (zh) (gāoliáng)
Czech: čirok (cs) m
Danish: durra
Dhivehi: ދޮނަޅަ (donaḷa)
Dutch: sorgo (nl)
Esperanto: sorgo (eo)
Estonian: sorgo
Finnish: durra (fi)
French: sorgho (fr) m, sorgo (fr) m
Fula: lacceeri, mbayeeri
Galician: sorgo (gl) m
Georgian: სორგო (sorgo)
German: Sorghum (de) n, Durra (de) f, Sorghumhirse f
Greek: σόργο (el) n (sórgo)
Gujarati: જુવાર (juvār)
Hausa: dawa
Hawaiian: kouloena
Hebrew: דורה (he) f (dúra)
Hindi: ज्वार (hi) (jvār)
Hungarian: cirok (hu)
Indonesian: sorgum (id)
Italian: sorgo (it) m, meliga (it) f, melica (it) f
Japanese: 蜀黍 (ja) (モロコシ, morokoshi), コーリャン (ja) (kōryan), ソルガム (sorugamu)
Kannada: ಜೋಳ (kn) (jōḷa)
Kikuyu: mũhĩa class 3
Korean: 수수 (ko) (susu)
Kwanyama: olulyavala
Latvian: sorgo (lv) m
Maay: ambulo
Macedonian: сирак m (sirak)
Malay: betari
Malayalam: ചോളം (ml) (cōḷaṁ)
Manchu: ᡧᡠᡧᡠ (šušu)
Marathi: ज्वारी (jvārī)
Norwegian: durra
Persian: سورگوم (sorgom), جواری (fa) (jovâri), ذرت‌خوشه (zorrat-xuše), گاورس (fa) (gâvars) (archaic)
Polish: sorgo (pl)
Portuguese: sorgo (pt) m
Punjabi: ਜਵਾਰ (javār)
Romanian: sorg (ro) m
Russian: со́рго (ru) n (sórgo), (in China) гаоля́н (ru) m (gaolján)
Serbo-Croatian: sirak (sh) m
Sindhi: جوئر
Slovak: cirok m
Slovene: sirek m
Spanish: zahína (es) f, sorgo (es) m
Swahili: mtama (sw)
Swedish: durra (sv) c
Tagalog: batad
Tamil: சோளம் (ta) (cōḷam)
Telugu: జొన్న (te) (jonna)
Tigre: ማሼላ (mašela)
Tigrinya: መሸላ (mäšäla).
Tày: khẩu cạ
Ukrainian: сорго (sorho)
Urdu: جوار (jvār)
Vietnamese: mộc mạch, cao lương (vi)
Welsh: sorgwm m
Western Panjabi: جوار (pnb) (joār)
Yiddish: סאָרגע (sorge)
Zarma: haamo
ǃXóõ: bāhle