turmeric

English

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Processed turmeric rhizomes

Etymology

From Middle English turmeryte, tarmaret, of uncertain origin. Possibly corrupted from Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “Curcuma”). Others have theorized it might come from Old French terre mérite (“deserving earth”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜɹ.məɹ.ɪk/, [ˈtʰɝ.mɚ.ɪk], (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) /ˈtuː.mə.ɹɪk/, [ˈtʰu.mɚ.ɪk]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɜː.m(ə).ɹɪk/, (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) /ˈtjuː.m(ə).ɹɪk/, /ˈtʃuː.m(ə).ɹɪk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (Philippine) IPA^(key): /təɹ.ˈmɛ.ɾɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)məɹɪk, -uːməɹɪk, -ɜː(ɹ)mɹɪk, -uːmɹɪk

Noun

turmeric (countable and uncountable, plural turmerics)

1. (botany) An Indian plant (Curcuma longa), with aromatic rhizomes, part of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
2. (cooking) The pulverized rhizome of the turmeric plant, used for flavoring and to add a bright yellow color to food.

   Synonym: haldi

3. A yellow to reddish-brown dye extracted from the turmeric plant.

   Synonym: E100

   turmeric:  

Derived terms

Derived terms

• turmeric acid
• turmeric paper
• turmeric root
• white turmeric
• wild turmeric

Translations

plant

• Arabic: كُرْكُم (ar) m (kurkum)

  Hijazi Arabic: كُرْكُم m (kurkum)

• Armenian:

  Middle Armenian: դեղնախունկ (deġnaxunk)

• Assamese: হালধি গছ (halodhi gos)
• Bikol Central: kalawag (bcl)
• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 薑黃／姜黄 (zh) (jiānghuáng)

• Danish: gurkemeje c
• Fijian: cago, lelega
• Finnish: maustekurkuma
• French: curcuma (fr) m
• Greek: κουρκουμάς (el) m (kourkoumás)
• Hawaiian: ʻōlena, lena
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Javanese: kunir (jv), kunyit (jv)
• Macedonian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Maori: renga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gurkemeie m

• Okinawan: 鬱金 (うっちん, ucchin)
• Palauan: kesol
• Persian: زردچوبه (fa) (zardčube), زرچوبه (zarčube)
• Polish: kurkuma (pl) f
• Portuguese: cúrcuma f, açafrão-da-índia m, açafrão-das-índias m
• Romanian: zerdiceaf (ro) m
• Russian: курку́ма (ru) f (kurkúma), жёлтый ко́рень m (žóltyj kórenʹ), желтя́к (ru) m (želtják)
• Samoan: lega, ago
• Slovene: kurkuma f
• Spanish: cúrcuma (es)
• Swahili: njano
• Swedish: gurkmeja (sv)
• Tagalog: luyang-dilaw
• Tahitian: reʻa, reʻa māʻohi
• Thai: ขมิ้น (th) (kà-mîn)
• Tongan: ango
• Turkish: zerdeçal (tr)
• Vietnamese: nghệ (vi)
• Yoruba: àjó, yéyémùyé

spice

• Afrikaans: borrie
• Arabic: كُرْكُم (ar) m (kurkum)

  Egyptian Arabic: كركم m (kurkum)

  Moroccan Arabic: خرقوم (ḵarqūm)

• Assamese: হালধি (halodhi)
• Azerbaijani: sarıkök, kurkuma
• Bengali: হলুদ (bn) (holud)
• Bikol Central: kalawag (bcl)
• Brunei Malay: kunyit
• Bulgarian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Burmese: နနွင်း (my) (na.nwang:)
• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Cebuano: dulaw
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黃薑／黄姜 (wong⁴ goeng¹)

  Hokkien: 薑黃／姜黄 (kiuⁿ-n̂g)

  Mandarin: 薑黃／姜黄 (zh) (jiānghuáng)

• Czech: kurkuma f, japonský šafrán m
• Danish: gurkemeje c
• Dhivehi: ރީނދޫ (rīⁿdū)
• Dutch: koenjit (nl) m or f, kurkuma (nl) m
• Esperanto: kurkumo
• Finnish: kurkuma (fi)
• French: curcuma (fr) m
• German: Gelbwurz f, Kurkuma (de) f, Kurkume (de) f
• Greek: κουρκούμη (el) f (kourkoúmi)
• Hebrew: כורכום (he) m (kurkum)
• Hindi: हल्दी (hi) (haldī)
• Hungarian: kurkuma (hu)
• Icelandic: túrmerik n
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Irish: tuirmiric f
• Italian: curcuma (it) f
• Japanese: 鬱金 (ja) (うこん, ukon), ウコン (ja) (ukon)
• Khmer: រមៀត (km) (rɔmiet)
• Korean: 강황 (ganghwang)
• Lao: ຂີ້ໝິ້ນ (khī min), ຂມິ້ນ (kha min)
• Lithuanian: dažinė ciberžolė
• Macedonian: куркума f (kurkuma)
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Malayalam: മഞ്ഞൾ (ml) (maññaḷ)
• Marathi: हळद f (haḷad)
• Nepali: बेसार (ne) (besār)
• Norwegian: gurkemeie
• Persian: زردچوبه (fa) (zardčube), زرچوبه (zarčube)
• Polish: kurkuma (pl) f
• Portuguese: curcuma f, açafrão-da-índia m, açafrão-das-índias m, açafrão-da-terra (pt)
• Punjabi: ਹਲਦੀ (haldī)
• Romanian: zerdiceaf (ro) m
• Russian: курку́ма (ru) f (kurkúma), жёлтый ко́рень m (žóltyj kórenʹ), желтя́к (ru) m (želtják)
• Sinhalese: කහ (si) (kaha)
• Slovene: kurkuma f
• Spanish: cúrcuma (es) f
• Swahili: manjano (sw)
• Swedish: gurkmeja (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠀꠟꠗꠤ (alodí), ꠅꠟꠂꠖ (oloido)
• Tagalog: luyang-dilaw
• Tamil: மஞ்சள் (ta) (mañcaḷ)
• Tausug: dulaw
• Telugu: పసుపు (te) (pasupu)
• Tetum: kunir
• Thai: ขมิ้น (th) (kà-mîn)
• Turkish: zerdeçal (tr)
• Venetian: cùrcuma (vec) f
• Vietnamese: củ nghệ
• Welsh: tyrmerig m
• Yoruba: àjó, ata ilẹ̀ pupa

dye

• Catalan: cúrcuma (ca) f
• Dutch: kurkuma (nl), koenjit (nl)
• Finnish: kurkumiini
• French: curcumine (fr) f
• Indonesian: kunyit (id)
• Italian: curcumina (it) f
• Malay: kunyit (ms)
• Russian: курку́мин (ru) m (kurkúmin)

See also

• curcumin
• golden
• kunyit
• haldi

References

• “termerite, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-25.
• Klein, Dr. Ernest, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1971.

Further reading

• “turmeric”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• turmeric on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Curcuma longa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies