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anil (AN-l) - n., any of several tropical shrubby legumes of genus Indigofera, especially I. suffruticosa, that are sources of indigo; indigo dye.
The deep blue of new blue jeans. Anil most commonly is applied to I. suffruticosa, originally native to the West Indies, but can also refer to I. tinctoria, originally native to India. The word itself arrived in English around 1580 from Portuguese, either directly or via French, from Arabic an-nīl, the indigo plant, from al-, the + Persian nīl, indigo plant, from Sanskrit nīlī, indigo, from nīla-, dark blue -- so started Indoeuropean, passed through Semitic, then back to Indoeuropean and used for a different plant. An illustration of I. suffruticosa:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
The deep blue of new blue jeans. Anil most commonly is applied to I. suffruticosa, originally native to the West Indies, but can also refer to I. tinctoria, originally native to India. The word itself arrived in English around 1580 from Portuguese, either directly or via French, from Arabic an-nīl, the indigo plant, from al-, the + Persian nīl, indigo plant, from Sanskrit nīlī, indigo, from nīla-, dark blue -- so started Indoeuropean, passed through Semitic, then back to Indoeuropean and used for a different plant. An illustration of I. suffruticosa:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
