Etymograph

English

catechu

Catechu may come from Malay kacu.

  1. Malaymodernkacuuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1837catechu

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Malaymodernkacuuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1837catechu

Earliest quotation: 1837, Jonathan Pereira, Lectures on Materia Medica: Lecture LXI: “The pale catechus are usually sweeter and more pleasant…”

Every English word from Malay kacu

Today it means

noun A gummy extract of any of several species of Acacieae, but especially Senegalia catechu, produced by boiling the wood of the tree in water and evaporating the resulting liquid.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Malay kacu / catechu

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