sesame

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tropical Asian plant (Sesamum indicum) bearing small flat seeds used as food and as a source of oil.
  2. The seed of this plant.

Pronunciation

/ˈsɛsəmi/ /ˈsɛzəmi/ En-us-sesame.wav /ˈsɛsəm/ /ˈsiːsəm/

Word forms

sesame sesames sesamé sesamë

Etymology

From late Middle English sisamie, from Latin sīsamum, sēsamum, from Ancient Greek σήσαμον (sḗsamon), from Aramaic שושמא (šūššmā), shortening of שומשומא (šumššumā), from Akkadian 𒊭𒈦𒌑𒈬 (šamaššammū, “oil plant”), compound of 𒉌𒄑 (šaman, “oil”) and 𒌑 (šammum, “plant”). The modern pronunciation is perhaps influenced by (transliterations of) Greek σησάμη (sisámi). Doublet of sesamum.

Translations

Afar: simsím Akkadian: 𒊭𒈦𒌑𒈬 Arabic: سِمْسِم Armenian: շուշմա Armenian: քնջութ Assamese: তিল Azerbaijani: küncüt Bengali: তিল Bulgarian: сусам Burmese: နှမ်း Buryat: гүнжэд Catalan: sèsam Chinese Cantonese: 芝麻 Eastern Min Chinese: 芝麻 Eastern Min Chinese: 油麻 Chinese: 麻 Chinese: 油麻 Chinese Mandarin: 芝麻 Chinese Mandarin: 胡麻 Danish: sesam Daur: bal Daur: cigaa bal Dutch: sesam Faroese: sesam Finnish: seesami French: sésame Galician: sésamo Georgian: სეზამი Georgian: ქუნჯუტი German: Sesam Greek: σουσαμιά Ancient Greek: σησάμη Hebrew: סומסום Hindi: तिल Hindi: तील Hindi: पवित्र Hindi: पितृतर्पण Hindi: पापघ्न Hindi: पूतधान्य Hindi: जटिल Hindi: स्नेहफल Hindi: तैलफल Hindi: हेमधान्य Hittite: 𒊭𒀊𒊭𒈠 Hungarian: szezám Hurrian: 𒋗𒈪𒋗𒈪 Indonesian: wijen Indonesian: bijan Indonesian: sesam Irish: seasaman Italian: sesamo Japanese: 胡麻 Khmer: ល្ង Korean: 참깨 Northern Kurdish: kuncî Lao: ງາ Latin: sēsamum
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