Dictionary

banyan en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbæn.jən/ (UK, US)
• (US) audio
• /ˈbæn.jæn/ (UK, US)

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.

Meanings

1. An Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
2. A tropical Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, that has many aerial roots.
   • 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. 1914, Teresa Frances, William Rose Benét, The East I Know, translation of original by Paul Claudel, page 33:
   • When doubling a point, which was covered with a heavy growth of the banian mangrove, which extended into deep water, we discovered a party of Kubu Orangs fishing from off a pack of drift that had lodged against the inward trend of the northern shore. 1879, [R. Elton Smile [pseudonym; Elton Romeo Smilie]], “[Letter dated March 18th, 1878]”, in Investigations and Experience of M. Shawtinbach, at Saar Soong, Sumatra. […
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.
   • It was an honest letter, written by an honest man, then stewing in the Plains on two hundred rupees a month (for he allowed his wife eight hundred and fifty), and in a silk banian and cotton trousers. 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “At the Pit's Mouth”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 50:
6. (UK, dated, slang) A camping excursion on shore, to give a ship's crew a break from shipboard routine.

Forms

Deriveds

banyan fight · banyan day

Relateds

Banyan in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Synonyms

banyan tree

Translations (74)

pt figueira-de-bengala (tropical South Asian fig tree) · gu વડ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · hi बड़ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pt baniano (Indian trader, merchant) · fr banian (Indian trader, merchant) · sa वट (tropical South Asian fig tree) · hi बट (tropical South Asian fig tree) · nl wurgvijg (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ru баниа́н (tropical South Asian fig tree) · lo ໂພ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ms jejawi (tropical South Asian fig tree) · tl balete (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fr commerçant indien (Indian trader, merchant) · or ବରଗଛ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · sw baniani (Indian trader, merchant) · cmn 睡袍 (type of loose gown worn in the Indian subcontinent) · pa ਬੋਹੜ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fa انجیر بنگالی (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pt baniana (type of loose gown worn in the Indian subcontinent) · pl banian (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ur بٹ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ta ஆலமரம் (tropical South Asian fig tree) · es baniano (tropical South Asian fig tree) · tl baliti (tropical South Asian fig tree) · bi nabanga (tropical South Asian fig tree) · hi बरगद (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pa بوہَڑ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · te మర్రి (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ml പേരാൽ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ta ஆல் (tropical South Asian fig tree) · dv ނިކަ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fr banian (tropical South Asian fig tree) · cmn 晨衣 (type of loose gown worn in the Indian subcontinent) · fa لور (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ru банья́н (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pl figowiec bengalski (tropical South Asian fig tree) · cmn 印度商人 (Indian trader, merchant) · hi बरगत (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ur برگت (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ur برگد (tropical South Asian fig tree) · id beringin (tropical South Asian fig tree) · cs banyán (tropical South Asian fig tree) · mg monoko (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pt baniane (Indian trader, merchant) · ro banian (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ilo balete (tropical South Asian fig tree) · tyz bả (tropical South Asian fig tree) · tl balite (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ca banià (tropical South Asian fig tree) · vi đa (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pam baliti (tropical South Asian fig tree) · nl banyan (tropical South Asian fig tree) · txb nigrot (tropical South Asian fig tree) · hi वट (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ko 반얀나무 (tropical South Asian fig tree) · tyz lùng (tropical South Asian fig tree) · kn ಆಲದ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ur وٹ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · sh banjan (tropical South Asian fig tree) · pa بوڑھ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · cmn 榕 (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fi banian (tropical South Asian fig tree) · sh бањан (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ur بڑ (tropical South Asian fig tree) · cmn 榕樹 /榕树 (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fi intialainen kaupustelija (Indian trader, merchant) · fi banyan (type of loose gown worn in the Indian subcontinent) · hu indiai füge (tropical South Asian fig tree) · th ไทร (tropical South Asian fig tree) · mr वड (tropical South Asian fig tree) · fi banianviikuna (tropical South Asian fig tree) · ta பனியன் (type of loose gown worn in the Indian subcontinent) · ivv vaditi (tropical South Asian fig tree) · sa न्यग्रोध (tropical South Asian fig tree)