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Banyan

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ban⋅yan

  [ban-yuhn]
Use Banyan in a Sentence
–noun
1. Also called banyan tree. an East Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, of the mulberry family, having branches that send out adventitious roots to the ground and sometimes cause the tree to spread over a wide area.
2. Also, bania, baniya. (in India)
a. a Hindu trader or merchant of a particular caste, the rules of which forbid eating flesh.
b. a loose shirt, jacket, or gown.
Also, banian.

Origin:
1590–1600; < Pg (perh. < Ar) < Gujarati vāṇiyo (sing.) or vāṇiyā (pl.) member of the merchant caste (cf. Prakrit vāṇiaya, Skt vāṇija trader); the tree is said to have taken its name from a particular tree of the species near which merchants had built a booth; source of final nasal uncert.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ban·yan also ban·ian   (bān'yən)   
n.  A tropical Indian fig tree (Ficus benghalensis), often widely spreading because of the many aerial roots that descend from the branches and develop into additional trunks. It is planted for ornament and shade.

[Short for banyan tree, merchants' tree, from Portuguese banian, Hindu merchant, from Gujarati vāṇiyo, from Sanskrit vāṇijaḥ; see wen-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

banyan 
"Indian fig tree," 1634, so called in allusion to a tree on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf under which the Hindu merchants known as banians had built a pagoda. From Skt. vanija "merchant."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Banyan company
A personal computer networking company, best known for its "Vines" products for local area networks.
Address: Westborough MA, USA.
[More info?]
(1995-03-01)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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