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Sunn

 - 3 dictionary results

sunn

  [suhn] ,
Use Sunn in a Sentence
–noun
1. a tall East Indian shrub, Crotalaria juncea, of the legume family, having slender branches and yellow flowers, and an inner bark that yields a hemplike fiber used for making ropes, sacking, etc.
2. the fiber.
Also called sunn hemp, sun hemp, Bombay hemp, Madras hemp.

Origin:
1580–90; < Hindi san < Skt śāṇa
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sunn   (sŭn)   
n.  

  1. A tropical Asian plant (Crotalaria juncea) having clusters of yellow flowers.

  2. A tough fiber obtained from the stems of this plant, used for cordage.


[Hindi san, from Sanskrit śāṇa-, hempen, from śaṇaḥ, hemp.]
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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Encyclopedia

sunn

(Crotalaria juncea), plant of the pea family (Fabaceae, or Leguminosae) or its fibre, one of the bast fibre group. The plant is also cultivated in many tropical countries as a green manure crop that is plowed under to fertilize soil. The sunn plant is not a true hemp. It is probably native to the Indian subcontinent, where it has been cultivated since prehistoric times. It was introduced to the Western Hemisphere early in the 19th century.

Learn more about sunn with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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